R100 coming to theaters and On Demand beginning this Friday

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R100

Directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto
Starring: Mao Daichi, Lindsay Kay Hayward, and Hairi Katagiri

Japan, 2013, 100 minutes

R100, a hilarious and bizarre take on the sex comedy from Japanese comedy giant Hitoshi Matsumoto (Big Man Japan, Symbol) will be in theaters and On Demand starting Friday, January 23rd. In the film, a mild-mannered family man with a secret taste for S&M finds himself pursued by a gang of ruthless dominatrices — each with a unique talent,

R100 had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. In my review at that time, I gave it a 3.5 out of 4 star rating (very good). The film subsequently played at the 2014 New York Asian Film Festival.

R100 playing at NYAFF tomorrow

R100

Written and directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto

Japan, 2013, 98 minutes
When: Wednesday, July 2 at 7:15pm
Where: The Film Society of Lincoln Center's
Walter Reade Theater, 165 W 65th Street, NYC
Buy tickets

R100 is the latest offering from Japanese cult fave director Hitoshi Matsumoto. His previous works include  Big Man Japan (2007; original title Dainipponjin)  and Scabbard Samurai (2011), both of which played as co-presentations of the New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts in 2008 and 2012 respectively. This time around he ventures into the world of S&M. The title is a play on the Japanese film rating system: it indicates that this is a film that should only be seen by viewers at least 100 years old!

Takafumi gets some in a restaurant

The film centers on Takafumi Katayama (Nao Omori, whose credits include Ichi the Killer, the "Interior Design" segment of Tokyo!, Helter Skelter, and over eighty other films). He's a salesman  in a department store who has an eight year old son named Arashi. His wife Setsuko is in Japan University Hospital where she has been in a "persistent vegetative state" (that is, a coma) for three years.

With his father-in-law, Takafumi (right) celebrates his son's 8th birthday

Takafumi doesn't have a lot of joy in his life, what with his bland job and non-present spouse. One day he goes to a club specializing in providing masochistic experiences doled out by a variety of dominatrices. By signing a contract, Takafumi is to receive one year of visits from different dominatrices who will appear at different times. (One just has to accept that he somehow has the money to do so, since this can't come cheaply.) For his part, he must comply with the club's three rules:

1. There is no cancellation in mid-contract
2. The customer must always be submissive
3. There is to be no touching, no violence, and no initiating of any activities by the customer

The dominatrices who tend to Takafumi, sometimes to his displeasure

Initially he is pleased with the services he receives. Indeed, ripples of joy can actually be seen emanating from his face. But as the visits begin to intrude on his workplace and his home, he realizes that he's gotten himself more than he bargained for. The club is quite serious about their "no-cancellation" rule and things get weirder-and -weirder for the increasingly desperate Takafumi.

Takafumi gets some on the street

Director Matsumoto likes to mix things up in this film. Instead of just a straight narrative, we also get two diversions. One is a number of quasi-documentary interviews with the club manger and several of the dominatrices. The other is a self-referential look at the film.

Five people periodically come out of the screening room where the film is being shown. The two who remain standing to the left of the image, one male, the other female, apparently are on the film crew, perhaps an assistant director and the script girl. The other three -- all males -- discuss the problems they have with the film. It wasn't clear to me if they were censors or just involved with the production company, though I suspect the latter. It really doesn't matter just who they are; their discussion of the film, especially the absurdity of the director's intention that it be shown only to people a hundred years old -- is hilarious. These episodes include shots of the director seated in the screening room. Maybe it's just me, but the actor playing him seemed to be made to look like venerable Japanese director Seijun Suzuki, who just happens to have turned ninety this past May.

Takafumi tries to get help but the police are not sympathetic

R100 is a crazy, kinky comedy, quite unique and very entertaining, assuming you're not the type automatically offended by the subject matter.

ACF rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very good.

This screening of R100 is part of the New York Asian Film Festival 2014.

ACF 2022: Hitoshi Matsumoto's R100

R100

Written and directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto

Japan, 2013, 100 minutes

R100 is the latest offering from Japanese cult fave director Hitoshi Matsumoto. His previous works include  Big Man Japan (2007; original title Dainipponjin)  and Scabbard Samurai (2011), both of which played as co-presentations of the New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts in 2008 and 2012 respectively. This time around he ventures into the world of S&M. The title is a play on the Japanese film rating system: it indicates that this is a film that should only be seen by viewers at least 100 years old!

With his father-in-law, Takafumi (right) celebrates his son's 8th birthday

The film centers on Takafumi Katayama (Nao Omori, whose credits include Ichi the Killer, the "Interior Design" segment of Tokyo!, Helter Skelter, and over eighty other films). He's a salesman  in a department store who has an eight year old son named Arashi. His wife Setsuko is in Japan University Hospital where she has been in a "persistent vegetative state" (that is, a coma) for three years.

The dominatrices who tend to Takafumi, sometimes to his displeasure

Takafumi doesn't have a lot of joy in his life, what with his bland job and non-present spouse. One day he goes to a club specializing in providing masochistic experiences doled out by a variety of dominatrices. By signing a contract, Takafumi is to receive one year of visits from different dominatrices who will appear at different times. (One just has to accept that he somehow has the money to do so, since this can't come cheaply.) For his part, he must comply with the club's three rules:

1. There is no cancellation in mid-contract
2. The customer must always be submissive
3. There is to be no touching, no violence, and no initiating of any activities by the customer

Initially he is pleased with the services he receives. Indeed, ripples of joy can actually be seen emanating from his face. But as the visits begin to intrude on his workplace and his home, he realizes that he's gotten himself more than he bargained for. The club is quite serious about their "no-cancellation" rule and things get weirder-and -weirder for the increasingly desperate Takafumi.

Takafumi tries to get help but the police are not sympathetic

Director Matsumoto likes to mix things up in this film. Instead of just a straight narrative, we also get two diversions. One is a number of quasi-documentary interviews with the club manger and several of the dominatrices. The other is a self-referential look at the film.

Five people periodically come out of the screening room where the film is being shown. The two who remain standing to the left of the image, one male, the other female, apparently are on the film crew, perhaps an assistant director and the script girl. The other three -- all males -- discuss the problems they have with the film. It wasn't clear to me if they were censors or just involved with the production company, though I suspect the latter. It really doesn't matter just who they are; their discussion of the film, especially the absurdity of the director's intention that it be shown only to people a hundred years old -- is hilarious. These episodes include shots of the director seated in the screening room. Maybe it's just me, but the actor playing him seemed to be made to look like venerable Japanese director Seijun Suzuki, who just happens to have turned ninety this past May.

R100 had its world premiere as a Midnight Madness feature at 11:59 PM last night, Thursday, September 12th, 2013, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). And it would seem to have been a prefect choice for such a time slot

R100 is a crazy, kinky comedy, quite unique and very entertaining, assuming you're not the type automatically offended by the subject matter.

ACF rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very good.

ACF 2010: World premiere of Hitoshi Matsumoto's R100 set for Toronto International Film Festival

R100

Directed byHitoshi Matsumoto

Japan, 2013, DCP, color, 100 min.

When: Thursday, Sept 12, 2013 at midnight
(technically at 11:59 Thursday night)

Part of TIFF's Midnight Madness series

Where: Toronto International Film Festival 

(Festival info here)

"R-100 is a wild and hilarious trip into personal sexual fantasy. It will lead the viewer into a world that is unlike anything they have ever experienced."

- Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes.

Following earlier TIFF premieres of his previous films BIG MAN JAPAN (2007) and SYMBOL (2009), Japan's most absurdest auteur Hitoshi Matsumoto returns to Toronto with R100. One of the country's leading comedians, Matsumoto brings an anarchic flavor and deadpan humor to film, playing with local genres such as kaiju (big monster) in BIG MAN JAPAN and the wandering samurai in SCABBARD SAMURAI. With the fetish-driven R100, he tackles Japan's pink films. Whatever the subject, Matsumoto knows absolutely no boundaries, defying any filmmaking conventions. Each of his films is a planet of its own - or sometimes even several parallel planets - which would leave Michel Gondry gasping for air if he were to land on one.

The title of R100 is a word play on the Japanese ratings system, suggesting that the viewer should be at least 100 years old to see the film. Mr. Matsumoto thought of the title while doing publicity for his previous film SCABBARD SAMURAI. With R100, he wants to challenge the concept of rating, or any kind of judgment, of films--which he explores in a tongue-in-cheek subplot about the filmmaking process.

The universe that Mr. Matsumoto created for R100 is decidedly kinky. He dives headlong into the world of sexual fantasies, bypassing the usual fetish clichés. In a hilarious performance as a dead-pan, no-nonsense police officer, Matsumoto gets to ask the pivotal question: "What happens if you get what you asked for?"

A very ordinary man (Nao Omori) who takes care of his son while his wife lies in a coma, enters a very ordinary building. Following a seductive ride on a merry-go-round, he signs up with an exclusive club. Membership is one year only and cannot be cancelled under any circumstances.

Happily he endures dominatrix intrusions in his daily life, until they get a little too close to his unsuspecting family. With a courage not displayed in his professional life as a bed salesman, he tries to cancel his membership, evoking the wrath of the American CEO, who descends upon Tokyo to teach him a lesson...

The all-star cast includes Nao Omori of VIBRATOR (2003) and ICHI THE KILLER (2001), Mao Daichi, a renowned stage actress, Shinobu Terajima of CATERPILLAR (2010), Hairi Katagiri of KAMOME DINER (2006), Ai Tominaga, a Japanese supermodel, Eriko Sato of FUNUKE SHOW SOME LOVE YOU LOSERS! (2007), and Hitoshi Matsumoto himself. Warner Bros Pictures releases the film in Japan on October 5.

In addition to the world premiere screening at midnight on September 12th, R100 will also be shown on Friday, September 13th and Saturday September 14th. For showtimes and further information about R100 at TIFF, click here.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will run from September 5 to 15, 2013.