Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Brian Krall As a sexual educator and BDSM educator and personal Dom myself, as well as a personal fan of James Franco's, I was delighted to see this movie in the library. However when I watched it I was appalled from the beginning, and continued to be until about 2/3rds of the way through when I couldn't continue watching. This movie can hardly be called a documentary because it is NOT educational. Nor is it a documentary about the kink community and BDSM. It is a documentary about a pornography company that films BDSM torture scenes. And from the very beginning you will see the basic rules of safe, sane and consensual being broken by this company. You will watch models have things done to them that they are explicitly saying they DO NOT want done to them. And worst of all you will be forced to watch sexual torture that you do not know you are signing up to watch and makes you feel that your own consent is being violated. This film is nothing more than the filming of the filming of hardcore torture and rape pornography, with some commentary from the pornographers, that again is non-educational in nature, and is just their own personal thoughts and opinions and feelings and such. The movie teaches you absolutely NOTHING about BDSM and Kink Culture, lifestyle or practices. It seems as though its main goal is to shock and appall, which it will for any sensible person who doesn't know that this is not really a documentary, so much as a filming of torture pornography...in which the people are actually being tortured since they aren't even consenting to everything that is being done. This movie is a great disservice to the kink community. Far worse than 50 shades of grey. I never thought I would say this but shame on you James Franco.

xWRL This film gives a surprisingly lucid view of what goes on at Kink.com studios. Even more interesting are the interviews with the staff and the actors, who describe their motivations and what it's like to work in the BDSM porn business. Actors for the most part don't stay for longer than a year or two, and many profess to be exploring an inner need in what they do.There are a enough explicit sex scenes to give a feel for what goes into the staging. A given scene may change drastically if an actor has misgivings about the sexual demands of the script.The overall impression is of a business run in a professional manner by decent, reasonably sympathetic people who happen to find themselves or at least their jobs to be on the kinky side of the sexual spectrum.It's no surprise that this documentary will upset some people. As one of the participants in the film notes, sexual fantasies and taboos are all over the map. The tacit message is that you're free to judge, even if it's pointless to do so.

Noirkiss_3 Having some friends that are into BDSM I've seen and read a bit about the subculture. With that in mind I was excited to see this documentary. While technically OK(lighting sound etc) the film was a bore. First, it's not really a film about BDSM, it's a film about a company that makes BDSM movies for public consumption with actors who aren't all in the BDSM community. Even with that caveat there was a rich opportunity to explore this interesting subculture through the lens of the corporation. But what we get instead is interviews with employees, many of whom are far from articulate or perhaps have reservations about being nuanced about something their paycheck depends on. No interviews with consumers, no history of the industry to set the stage for Kinks place in time. No discussion of San Francisco as a unique place that allows a business like Kink to thrive, let alone discuss the neighborhood the armory is in and it's effects. This was little more than a milquetoast ad for a million dollar corporation. It's a shame considering the wealth of material the director could have used to make an insightful film.

Sophia Aragon Yes, it's sufficiently well-made to be watchable. Even if the subject is not particularly of your interest (it isn't mine) and you cannot relate (I cannot), it is still a good thing that such documentaries are being made and it is a good thing to be able to experience them at one's leisure.It's not a great documentary, of course. After all, it simply records a collection of individuals doing their work and, at times, saying their piece. They don't have any "answers" and, frankly, don't need them either. But it is interesting to hear them struggle to explain themselves.It is also good to see these young people engage as they are on an activity that not long back would have been dangerous, not pretend/consensual dangerous, but really dangerous, as in their lives could have been destroyed on a whim by the narrow-minded. Nowadays, especially the women involved, are no more than simply reluctant and this only due to the caricature that political correctness has made out of feminism. They are on their back foot, yes, but not running away.Which reminds me, I particularly appreciated the absolute lack of politics. No lobbying, no proselytism, so suasion. This is rare.Last, Franco has planted a flag with this work. One of a few, by now. Good for him.I'm giving this documentary a 6. Hope it pleases a little and hurts a little.