I’m not sure I’ve seen a film that made me utter “What the fuck?” more frequently than R100. Japan harbors some tricky filmmakers, let me tell you. In Audition, it seems like you’re in for a romantic comedy…until that burlap bag flips and the piano wire comes out and the guy’s leg gets sawed off. Well, with R100, you think you’re in for some kinky fun with a little comedy thrown in to keep it light. And that’s what you get for about half the film. Then it goes bonkers.
Takafumi (Nao Ohmori) is a depressed salesman whose wife is in a coma, and who is raising his son with the help of his father-in-law. Presumably to fill some void in his mundane, sad life, Takafumi visits a place called Bondage, where, rather than be subjected to kinky torture for a pre-set amount of time, he signs up to be repeatedly tortured in public, without notice, for no less than one year. And, he’s told, he is not allowed to call it off.
An unlikely scenario for the real world, sure, but it’s still a cool idea.
The movie wastes no time in getting to the S&M fun. Takafumi gets kicked in the face at a coffee shop, pushed down some stairs, gets humiliated at a sushi bar, beaten on a street corner and in the back of a van. It sounds pretty wild, right? Buddy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
About the time Takafumi decides he’s had enough, things go batshit crazy. Enter the Queen of Saliva, with her endless supply of spit. Enter the five movie reviewers who periodically critique the film as if they’re watching it with you. Enter the Queen of Gobbling. Enter the ninjas. The choir. The grenades. Enter the Bondage CEO, who is apparently a giant of woman from the States who sets out to kill Takafumi in a scene that’s something like a Braveheart spoof.
This is one the craziest movies I’ve ever seen. Take a gander. It’s on Tubi and Amazon Prime.