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Trailer for "Bakushi"
Mainichi: Japanese bondage documentary 'Bakushi' knot suitable for faint-hearted
..."Bakushi," the name given to the professional rope bondage artists and the documentary to be shown in Tokyo...has already been viewed by rapt audiences at well-known international film festivals like Rotterdam and Buenos Aires. The documentary follows some of Japan's most famous bakushi as they go through the, er, ropes of kinbaku, the practice of rope bondage. "The first time I ever saw kinbaku was when I was working as the assistant director on a blue movie. I wonder what was enjoyable about it," Ryuichi Hiroki, the 54-year-old director of "Bakushi" tells Shukan Shincho..."Speaking in terms of sado-masochism, the bakushi is the sadist, but they have to understand a masochist's mentality as well," Hiroki says. "In a way, the bakushi are also masochists themselves because they're forced to respond to the demands of the women they're working on. I really like that paradox..."Other countries have bondage, where they use stuff like rubber suits and leather belts, but it's pretty rare to use ropes to tie people up. I guess it comes from Japan's culture of using ties for clothes like kimono, or furoshiki...When I show this overseas, people always come up and ask me if all Japanese are like the people in the movie"...more...
The Variety review describes the documentary as "eye-popping but uninformative".