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.

Christine Beatty I understand that filmmakers are often forced to walk a line between the reality of the subject matter and entertaining an audience, so I can sympathize with the rubbernecking feel of the coverage, however it didn't really provide a real context for all of the kinky sex we were seeing beyond some talking heads who, after a while came across more like they were rationalizing rather than explaining.SPOILER, PERHAPS: Those interviews may have come off differently were it not for the final interview with a female employee. At first she came off like she was fine with what she did, but then became overwrought and tearful, talking about her work "disgracing" her family and describing everyone who worked for Kink as though they were broken toys. This emotional interview undid all of the thoughtful insights of earlier interviews and made them seem somehow false. That one emotional outburst undid everything that preceded it. Its placement at the very end seems suspect, as if it was what the filmmakers wanted the viewer to take away.

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.

sfdphd I am not personally aroused by BDSM experiences but I know people who are into that kink. I watched this documentary to learn more about it and try to understand it. This film shows all the complicated aspects involved in making porn about this particular kink and shows how a porn company operates when it wants to work with the people doing these acts on film in a respectful way. That was all very interesting. I would have never known about some of these things so I feel much more well-informed after seeing it.The film does not really get into the psychology of people who are into this kink, so if that's what you are looking for, you'll have to go elsewhere. But if you are basically curious about how pornography is created and how BDSM porn in particular is done, this is a good introduction. Be warned that there are many graphic scenes that are quite intense, so if you are not into this kink, you might need to fast forward....