Takafumi is pathetic because he achieves sublime transcendence every time leather-clad dominatrices beat him up. Takafumi's masochism is, in that sense, not treated seriously—sorry, "Fifty Shades of Grey" fans!—because it's just the catalyst for a series of abidingly strange episodes that are all about one thing: escaping the hell that is yourself. Matsumoto's style of comedy is, in that sense, a far-flung descendant of Jerry Lewis' slapstick-y, self-loathing schtick. "R100" is, consequently, a comedy that tries to alienate you by suggesting that escapism is futile, all things inevitably devolve, and nothing inherently means anything.
"R100" may leave you feeling utterly defeated when it ends with Matsumoto's comedic variation on the Star Child finale of "2001: A Space Odyssey." But that's mostly because it will dredge up laughs from your gut even after it makes you hate Matsumoto for willfully repeating himself, then ducking his film's ickier conceits by diving into gross and seriously childish tangents. So even if you like bizarre movies, you'll probably like "R100," then hate it, then go back to liking it, then wonder what you're looking at. And then the movie will end.
Where was I? Oh, right, the plot. So, Takafumi gets kicked in the face, and thrown down a flight of stairs by a very sexy, terribly bored woman, which makes Takafumi realize how much he likes being dominated—not necessarily in a sexual way, mind you, though yes, there is a lot of that in "R100." Takafumi desperately wants to escape his dreary home-life, which consists of taking care of son Arashi (Haruki Nishimoto) while wife Setsuko lies comatose in a nearby hospital. So Takafumi joins a mysterious gentlemen's club whose services eventually escalate in perversity, from being dominated in a sushi restaurant to being flogged and spat on at home, right next door to Arashi's bedroom.
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