R100 (Hitoshi Matsumoto): Japan

Reviewed by Ryan McEwan. Viewed at AFI film fest 2013

R100 is a difficult movie that tells the life of a man named Mao Daichi, that at first seems to be normal man but a dark side starts to  evolve. Mao has signed a contract that has a 1 year membership to the exclusive club “Bondage”, Bondage is a club that has “kinky” and painful sessions but is said that eventually after the pain starts to disappear after each session the pleasure will come and replace the feeling of pain, which will eventually turn to a euphoric ecstasy feeling. Mao soon finds out how the membership will soon affect his family, as he tries to terminate his contract he finds out the only rule is the contract must be fulfilled so the director tells the action packed comedy of his adventure.

At first i would think R100 would be a steady toned boring film with dim lighting. The filmed started to transform and suck you in, specially when they showed the producers making fun of the movie and the film work. Although i did now like the film work or lighting of most the film, it fit the story line so it made it that much more enjoyable. Hitoshi Matsumoto (Director) does a great job giving the crowd a laugh with his vision of this film. Even though it is a very serious struggle in this film, comedy comes out of no where to make you laugh. This is a film I would recommend to almost everyone that I know.