Details from IMDB:
IMDb RATING
A documentary on fetish website Kink.com.
Director Christina Voros and producer James Franco pull back the curtain on the fetish empire of Kink.com, the Internet’s largest producer of BDSM content. In a particularly obscure corner of an industry that operates largely out of public view, Kink.com’s directors and models strive for authenticity. In an enterprise often known for exploitative practices, Kink.com upholds an ironclad set of values to foster an environment that is safe, sane, and consensual. They aim to demystify the BDSM lifestyle, and to serve as an example and an educational resource for the BDSM community. In kink, we discover not only a fascinating and often misunderstood subculture, but also, in a career far from the mainstream, a group of intelligent, charismatic, and driven people who really, truly love what they do.—AnonymousB
Initial Thoughts:
As you may now from reading this blog I am fascinated by sex and all of it’s wonderful iterations. I had heard about this documentary produced by James Franco and as I have been doing on my Sunday’s a lot lately, I decided to give it a watch.
Main Points:
I want to say right away that this documentary features hard core pornography, along with it also being more extreme than mainstream porn as BDSM can feature scenes with someone experiencing a lot of, consensual, pain and people screaming/crying, which is usually real. My point being if any of those things offend you, please don’t watch this. That said I enjoyed this delving into the world of kink.com and BDSM, which is a specific kind of kink. The interviews are quite good, I find it incredible how people will not only want to be put in a lot of pain, hung upside down, and filmed for others enjoyment, all to experience a sexual thrill and a massive rush of endorphins’ (and some money of course). I also found the discussion of subspace, a term people who enjoy BDSM use to describe the rush they get from particular sexual and/or pain related activities.
It is unfortunate that the film suffers from low production values and some crappy editing. Literally there were some scenes where it so was dark it was hard to see what was going on. I also didn’t like how very short it was, I really want to see more and I don’t think an hour and 15 minutes is enough time to get into the world of kink and BDSM, at least in any depth. I did also quite enjoy seeing people talk about why they loved BDSM and how they clearly aren’t in for the money as mainstream porn (and escorting) pay a lot better, according to this anyway.
Final Thoughts:
I will give this highest age recommendation ever to be certain, ages 21+ (as I don’t know the laws in every country), I dearly hope no one under 19 watches this as that would be a big mistake. I enjoyed this and I would love to see another documentary explore how popular BDSM has become, especially with a bigger budget. Also be prepared if you watch this in a house with anyone they may wonder what all the screaming is about, I had to the volume down several times as it was bothering my cat! I give this 6.5 out of 10 and would recommend it to anyone who has an open mind, and perhaps is a little kinky themselves, is not bothered by the subject matter, and has an interest in BDSM, kink, or sexuality. I hope James Franco does more documentaries’ as this one shows a lot of potential.