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.

You know, if I were to actually take (at face value) what was being shown to me here in this "kink propaganda" documentary - Then I would be under the clear impression that the only people, today, who were into "kink" were the young, fit, level-headed, and beautiful people of the world. And, nowhere in this subculture (that specializes in BDSM) could any old, dumpy, psychos be found, anywhere.I mean - Hello!!?? - Like, let's get real about this, folks.... Considering how many nutters that there are out there who are strictly into conventional sexual practices - Surely the offbeat world of BDSM has its fair share of unhinged eccentrics as well.... No!? Anyway - I thought it was pretty suspicious that when the viewer was taken on a walking tour of Kink.com's headquarters in San Francisco - The room called "The Abattoir" (where cutting and blood-letting happens) was completely ignored and we never got to see what went on in there. No, we didn't.As expected - The people at Kink.com showed us exactly what they wanted us to see in order to demonstrate just how safe and sane their whole operation was - And, with that - Hopefully entice us all to take a walk-on-the-wild-side, real soon.... Yeah! - For a good, hefty fee, of course.Well - Since pain is not my pleasure - I will have to be the first (but surely not the last) to pass on their 'welcoming" invitation.... And - How about you???

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.

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....