R100

A middle aged furniture salesman hires a bondage firm to send dominatrices to randomly attack and humiliate him in public, but things eventually devolve into surreal fantasy after one of the dommes accidentally dies in his house. It's intentionally obtuse and insane, and even has several meta interludes featuring the film producers critiquing bits of the movie we've just seen. Ultimately, despite the sleazy premise, it seems to be about the nature of happiness.

Loathe 2 disagree w/ Alamo Drafthouse but whoever wrote that this is "hilarious" is paid by the superlative. Granted, if David Lynch self-reflexively commenting on how absurd any 1 of his films is w/in the film itself strikes u as funny, then enjoy. Speaking as a fan of women in leather & odd Japanese films (& this is as crazy as they get) it's no small feat 2 turn me off. But the tired Is-it-real-or-a-dream routine left me bored & the batsh-t last half hour added up to 2 little 2 late.

First hour's really dull, it's unsubtle as hell -ripples geddit!- and has that vague anti-western thing going on. While it was a cheap joke the meta bits were still the best bits. There are surprises though, there's no way you''d guess that ending.

I... I don't... I mean, it's... Errrrm... So yeah, this movie was pretty damn crazy. Balances pretty nicely between an actual movie and a 'what the fuuuuck' semi-meta-experience. Or something. I dunno. I was entertained for sure, though I have so many questions now. I almost died laughing at the repeated jumping-into-the-swimming-pool bit. From that point on this movie veers even further into What's Happeninggg territory and I had no choice but to sit back and just let things unfold.

Matsumoto's latest is as crazy as his previous films. The kind of film that most of the people I have ever met would hate. It's starts out with a familiar premise - a guy who's into masochism signs a yearly contract to be humiliated at any random time by one of the mistress of The Firm. The catch is you can't break contract until it expired. The weirdness ensues, and gradually turns into one of those "WTF am I watching, Japan?" experiences.

Never seen anything like this. Makes you want to meet the guys who made it. It can somehow combine kinkiness and childishness, and somehow it works. Very creative and entertaining. Get gets better and better, wilder and wilder, with some Beethoven to boot. It's absurd, it's kinky, but not in the least bit erotic. The erotic scenes are more funny than erotic. But they're not funny in a Hollywood slapstick way, they're funny in a more original, cleverer way. Reminded me a bit of MiIke's 'Gozu'.

Over the top really only seems to work if it's genuine. That's why Crank works and Crank 2 doesn't. Knowing is a director's biggest detriment. That's why this is such an amazing accomplishment. Not only does R100 know it's ridiculous, it literally stops the movie to point it out to the audience, yet it never loses it's feel of authenticity. Authentically insane that is. Nice to see Ichi the Killer on the opposite end of extremes...I guess.

This is a weird movie directed in the dullest way possible with terrible editing substituting for energy.

WTF am I watching, Japan?

What did I just watch?!

i expected a more twisted movie than this. a lot of potential was unused and undeveloped, so the whole thing just vanished

An everyman who likes to be dominated subscribes to a club where dominatrixes ambush and humiliate him. At first he's delighted by it, but when the attacks infringe on his job and home, he tries to cancel his subscription--and things only get worse (and much crazier) from there. A sluggish start and an overly drab palette give way to mounting madness, and if the meta-dramatic framework is extraneous, it ends on a high. Well enough acted; I'll check out more from Hitoshi Matsumoto.

Think 'The Game' mashed with 'Conspirators of Pleasure' covered in a drab version of that yellow filter Soderbergh smothered 'Magic Mike' in and add a BDSM twist. That is a fairly accurate depiction of R100 until things become decidedly Japanese. That moment can be pin pointed at the CEO's Water Lounge entrance. From there things spiral into what I can only assume is standard operating procedure for films airing past 10pm on Tokyo's local network TV.

Really god damned crazy. Most people will just sort of hate this but god damn if this wasn't the craziest fucking thing.

What the hell did I just watch?