I love going to film festivals but I always make sure that the ones I attend have a midnight section because that’s where the cool genre films resideand are a perfect way to break up the days from long dramas and docs that make up most of the festivals’ line-ups. Two festivals that I haven’t attended yet but are next on my list are the Toronto International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, both of which have great genre line-ups. I mention this because Hitoshi Matsumoto’s (Big Man Japan) new film R100 , a S&M comedic drama, played both festivals and word has gotten out that it is one ridiculous and hilarious ride that shouldn’t be missed by any genre and Japanese film fan but, more importantly it just got picked up for distribution.
Today it was announced that Drafthouse Films has acquired the North American rights to distribute this wild film theatrically and on VOD. The only thing that sucks is that they won’t be releasing it until 2014 and I doubt this film will screen anywhere in NY before then since all the cool festivals are over. Anyway, check out the synopsis and press release below for more information and be sure to put this on your radar.
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 — in this hilarious and bizarre take on the sex comedy
**** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ****
DRAFTHOUSE FILMS ACQUIRES TORONTO MIDNIGHT MADNESS ENTRY R100
2014 theatrical and VOD release planned for latest film from Hitoshi Matsumoto, regarded as Japan’s most iconic comedian
AUSTIN, TX – September 25, 2013 – Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, announced today the acquisition of North American rights to Japanese director Hitoshi Matsumoto’s (Big Man Japan) R100, a comic tale of male self-destruction. R100 received its world premiere as part of Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness section and made its US premiere at Fantastic Fest last weekend. A VOD/Digital and theatrical release is planned for 2014.
R100 (a riff on the Japanese movie rating system, whose equivalent to NC-17 is R18) tells the story of lonely everyman, Takafumi Katayama (Nao Ohmori of Ichi The Killer infamy), who hires a boutique S&M agency that specialize in random acts of extreme public degradation. At first, this changes his outlook on life for the better, but a bizarre accident violates the terms of the contract and hurdles Takafumi into a confounding spiral that will test his very soul. The Hollywood Reporter said about the film, “it’s hard to remember a film about S&M as funny as this one, or one as beautifully and weirdly imagined.” And Twitch Film remarked, “it [delivers] an intensely intelligent [and] fabulously acted study of the lengths people will go to secure happiness…Matsumoto is one of the most ferociously unique filmmakers on the face of the planet.”
“There’s probably no bigger fan of Hitoshi Matsumoto’s comedy in North America than me,” said Drafthouse Films Founder Tim League. “Without Matsumoto, there’s no Jackass; there’s no extreme reality TV. With the release of his brilliant new film R100, I hope to expose this legendary comic genius to a new, wide audience.”
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