Synopsis
The rapidly shifting sequence, à la Gaspar Noé, of the opening credits sets the tone for this film – a film about Berlin’s most notorious fetish club, which has been defining the city’s (and by extension, the global) club scene for the past 30 years. It is thoroughly authentic and provocative, wholly explicit, and completely level-headed, as it observes the city’s sexual morals without passing judgement, while remaining sex-positive, like the space it portrays. Through the functional use of slick black-and-white cinematography, reminiscent of Robert Mapplethorpe’s framing of vinyl, leather, and other fetish gears, a series of kinks is showcased, along with a mosaic of characters that frequent or work at the club, and for whom sex (and sexuality) plays a predominant role in their everyday lives, akin to a ritual practice.
