Nawa deka

This review is for the English dubbed version from 2000.

The Bondage Master is an expert with rope. He uses his skills both for photo shoots and live performances at an S&M club. He saves a woman who was being attacked and learns she is searching for her sister who has been working as bondage model. He agrees to help search.

This is a modern Pink Eiga. There is limited nudity. There are some sex scenes. And there is a lot of bondage along with limited discipline. S&M is a definite theme for this film. The Bondage and S&M elements were handled without being truly mean or degrading. In fact at times it was with a slight sense of humor and always with being consensual.

This is one story with several sub-stories tied in. This kept the entire film interesting. A bit of crime drama, drama with some comedy. The characters are very interesting too.

The biggest problem is with the English dubbing. I will need to see the original Japanese version but I didn't like some of the English voices & performances. Most sound like what you'd hear in a bad B movie from the 1980's. Played way over the top for comic relief. One character is the single totally stupid character often in B movies. He ruined almost every scene he was in.

This had the potential to be a truly excellent movie. A couple of abrupt scene changes that I had to rewind to understand. Plus that one stupid character that needn't been written that way. Still this was actually an entertaining movie.