Documentary provides an alternate view of a specific part of the porn business
KINK (Christine Voros, 2013)
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August 22-26
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In Kink, cinematographer and documentarian Christine Voros takes viewers behind the scenes of Kink.com, a hugely successful subscription website that specializes in fetish and BDSM (Bondage & Disclipline / Dominance & Submission / Sadism & Masochism) videos. Started in 1997 by bondage enthusiast Peter Acworth, the company, located in the two hundred thousand square foot, one-hundred-year-old San Francisco Armory, Kink.com attempts to offer a different kind of pornography for people with more discerning tastes, making videos that are as truthful and authentic as possible even when they appear to be what some would consider dangerous, depraved, and, most important, abusive to women. What makes Kink.com unique is that the stars of the videos — who are always referred to as models, not actors — can help guide the action, doing only those things that they want to do, with express instructions that all their reactions be real and to improvise as necessary. Whether pleasure or pain, there is no faking going on, and the shoot can be stopped at any time by anyone on the set if things appear to be getting out of hand, with aftercare being an important part of the process. And there are rarely ever silly plot lines and embarrassing dialogue; these videos go straight to what Kink.com’s customers — as well as the models and directors — want to see, and Voros shows it all, rather graphically. (Get ready for spanking, flogging, chaining, slapping, punching, tying up, choking, clamping, tweaking — and just wait till you get a load of the sex machines that are used on these more-than-willing and ultimately extremely satisfied subjects.)
Documentary goes behind the scenes of popular fetish and BDSM website Kink.com
In her feature-length directorial debut, the Brooklyn-based Voros, who has previously served as cinematographer on such James Franco projects as Child of God, Sal, As I Lay Dying, and 127 Hours: An Extraordinary View — and was introduced to the armory by Franco, who is the lead producer on Kink — journeys deep inside the world of Kink.com, letting the directors (Maitresse Madeline, Van Darkholme, Princess Donna), models (Jessie Colter, Porno Bobbie, Felony), and other employees (talent coordinator Jessie Lee, videographer Five Star, set decorator Chris Norris) share their points of view on the value of what they do and why they do it. “The one thing, especially if you’re looking at BDSM porn and you’re getting freaked out about it, just say to yourself that this isn’t for me, but it is for someone. And that’s that, then move on,” says Tomcat, another Kink.com director. “Everyone’s got a limit, and everyone’s gonna find something sexy and someone’s gonna find something not sexy. . . There’s nothing more to it.” Voros foregoes bringing in outside sex-industry experts, even when the discussion turns to elements that are usually associated with porn, including drugs and abused women; instead, the Kink.com people talk about the freedom and feminism that they believe is part of what makes the company so popular. Kink is like a celebratory, if at times defensive, infomercial, albeit an insightful and entertaining one that just might have you checking out the website when you get back home, when no one else is around.
In 1909, Prince Luigi Amedeo, the Duke of the Abruzzi, sought to climb to the summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world after Everest, bringing with him writer Filippo de Filippi and photographer Vittorio Sella to document their journey. To celebrate the centennial of that seminal event, alpinist and mountain guide Fabrizio Zangrilli gathered a team of climbers to attempt to reach the top of K2 in 2009, bringing along first-time director Dave Ohlson to capture their daring adventure. Situated in the Karakoram mountain range along the Pakistan-China border, K2 — one of the fourteen legendary “eight-thousanders” (mountains of more than eight thousand meters) — stands 8,611 meters tall, challenging climbers with a death rate much higher than that of Everest. “The will to just try something big, something dangerous, something extraordinary — it’s part of who we are,” says one member of the team, which includes Zangrilli, Canadian mountain guide Chris Szymiec, Austrian alpinist Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, British mountaineer Jake Meyer, and German cameraman David Göttler. As they make their way across the treacherous Karakoram Highway and through Skardu, the Baltoro Glacier, and Concordia, Ohlson cuts between thrilling still photos and film footage from the 1909 trip and the 2009 attempt, delving into the history of the spectacularly beautiful area and emphasizing how difficult it is to reach K2’s summit. “Everest and K2 aren’t even the same sport,” Szymiec says. Joined by a group of porters, they find obstacles every step of the way — and it gets even more threatening the closer they get. The film reveals the depth of the human spirit and the fierce power of nature, especially when the team has to stop when a friend dies while skiing down the mountain. Watching the seventy-five-minute documentary, you just might consider taking on K2 yourself someday — and then you’ll quickly change your mind and settle back comfortably into your chair. K2: Siren of the Himalayas opens August 22 at the Quad, with Ohlson and Jason Reid, one of the producers and editors, participating in Q&As following the 4:30 and 8:05 shows on Friday and Saturday.
Adam Sandler and Emily Watson are outstanding in Paul Thomas Anderson’s stream-of-consciousness acid trip of a movie about a childlike man with an inner demon. Barry Egan is a marvelous character, filled with complexity and lots of surprises, and Sandler embodies the role with a surprising maturity and grace. Barry is an obsessive man who watches the world pass him by as he turns inward, collecting Healthy Choice pudding (for the airline miles) and wearing a bright blue suit. When he meets Lena Leonard (Watson), his life veers off its nowhere course. Anderson’s offbeat narrative style and his own obsession with Technicolor (especially bright blues and reds, all splendidly photographed by Robert Elswit) combine for a fresh, fabulously told story that will make you as uncomfortable as it makes you thrilled and fulfilled; the rather unique film earned Anderson (There Will Be Blood, The Master) the Best Director award at Cannes. The cast also features Mary Lynn Rajskub, the great Luis Guzmán, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a crazy supervisor. Punch-Drunk Love is screening August 23 & 24 at 12 noon as part of Nitehawk Cinema’s brunch series “A Reasonable Length,” a quartet of expertly made films that each clock in at ninety minutes or less (Punch-Drunk Love is exactly an hour and a half); the series concludes August 30-31 with Edgar G. Ulmer’s sixty-seven-minute gem, Detour.
In Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s wildly inventive romantic comedy, Audrey Tautou plays one of the most delightful, charming characters since, well, dare we say it? Audrey Hepburn, especially from Roman Holiday. Everybody in this film is nuts; Amélíe wanders — always with some strange, curious purpose — through offbeat and humorous situations filled with obsessive-compulsive oddballs doing bizarre things while sharing their crazy likes and dislikes with the audience. A difficult childhood left the grown-up Amélíe unable to interact “normally” with people, so when she discovers a boy’s treasure box hidden in her apartment, she decides to track down the owner, leading to a series of very complex and emotional good deeds she does for others while she cannot figure out her own life, which undergoes a major change when she meets Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz) — who collects ripped-up pictures people throw out after using public photo booths — and becomes friendly with the Glass Man (Serge Merlin), who cannot go outside because his bones are too brittle, so he remains in his apartment, copying the same Renoir painting year after year, unable to capture one girl’s face properly. Jeunet’s aural and visual style is reminiscent of such Coen brothers films as Raising Arizona, with fast-moving shots, sudden close-ups, and blasts of sound that enliven this masterful film. Amélíe is screening August 20 as part of the South Street Seaport “Front/Row Cinema: See/Change” series, which continues Wednesday and Saturday nights through August 31. For a day-by-day listing of free summer movie screenings throughout New York City, go 
It’s easy to see why Morgan Neville’s Twenty Feet from Stardom was such a critical and popular success, raking in more than five million dollars at the box office and winning an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Yes, it tells the story of a fabulous group of remarkably talented backup singers, including Darlene Love, Judith Hill, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Táta Vega, Claudia Lennear, Jo Lawry, Lynn Mabry, and David Lasley. Yes, there are some big-time superstars singing their praises, including Bette Midler, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Chris Botti, and Mick Jagger. And the music and inside tales are simply phenomenal, particularly the behind-the-scenes scoop on “Gimme Shelter,” which featured Clayton on the original record, while Fischer’s been singing it live onstage with the Stones for the last twenty-five years; surprising looks at Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and David Bowie’s “Young Americans”; Love discussing Phil Spector, “He’s a Rebel,” and cleaning houses; and Hill’s attempt to be both a background vocalist and the lead singer playing her own songs. (Sadly, Clayton was involved in a serious car accident this June and “has a long road of recovery ahead,” according to her website.)