A conscious exploration of fantasy and flesh. The director talks about the novel upon which the film is based, we see the crew at work, the actors talk about what's going on. Y, a schoolgirl of 18, chooses her first lover (rather than wait to be raped, as were her two older sisters). After phone sex with J, a sculptor who's 38, they begin an affair that, by the second meeting, includes spankings as foreplay. J brings a suitcase full of rods, hoses, and wires; Y gathers sticks to bring. Y's brother discovers the affair.
J's wife, studying in Paris, calls him to join her. Will the lovers part? Will the violence get out of hand?
When do the lies begin? I just got back from seeing the new Korean film 'Lies,' a portrayal of a consensual BDSM relationship between an 18-year-old student and a 38-year-old sculptor. First, the bad stuff: it's not a very good movie.
Amateurishly filmed, with shaky camera work and some of the weirdest directorial decisions I've ever seen. This is not 'Last Tango In Paris' or anything like it. But if you can get past that, what's left at the core is one of the most sympathetic, honest and realistic portrayals I've ever seen of BDSM as it's actually played. The two types of players - the sculptor is a primary sadomasochist, whose needs for BDSM play are strong, innate and non-situation-dependent; the student is a secondary sadomasochist, who derives her enjoyment of BDSM from her partner's reaction - are accurately and sympathetically portrayed. Consent is scrupulously observed, with plenty of check-ins and other good communciation. The emotional reactions to play are dead-on.
The bad things that happen in the movie take place because of outside intervention by the vanilla world, not because there's anything wrong or sick about the couple themselves. As far as I could tell, most of the scenes of BDSM play were real, not staged or faked - and they're intense. Switchings, canings, paddlings - with lingering camera shots afterwards of welts and bruises. (One scat play scene was apparently faked, which was OK by me - shudder.) Some of the play was not up to community standards of safe technique; a shot of a garden hose thudding down right across the woman's kidneys had me cringing. But it also seemed true to what might happen in a culture which provides no information or support for its kinkyfolk. Well worth seeing in a theater if you live in an urban center where it's showing, or adding to your video collection later on if you can find it.