Within the brick fortress of the old San Francisco Armory at 14th and Mission streets, fantasies are being played out. Sick fantasies to many – fantasies of bondage, torture and sexual role playing – but harmless and normal to the millions of consumers of BDSM porn.

In her documentary “Kink,” which is produced by James Franco and starts Friday at the Roxie, director Christina Voros aims to unmask the CEO, filmmakers and actors of Kink, a multimillion-dollar empire of specialty Internet porn started in the late 1990s by CEO Peter Acworth. They come off as normal people – artists, even.

“It’s like training for a marathon,” one actress says before a round of torture, spanking and other things too graphic to mention. “If I ever get kidnapped and tied up (in real life), I’m prepared,” says another.

Make no mistake, although not rated, it is an explicit film, and that’s to Voros’ credit. How can you make a film about the strange acts of BDSM without showing it in some form?

“When they’re playing with pain we want them to feel it and to turn them on and push their limits in the way that they have a real response on camera,” says talent coordinator Jessie Lee.

In some ways, Voros invokes her “safe” word a little too often (if you don’t know what that means, you don’t want to know). This is a mostly admiring portrait of Kink. One actress says, when asked if she would be OK with her children being in the porn industry as adults, “There’s a lot of lost souls here. And I would never ever want my children to be lost souls.”

That’s about as close as Voros gets to criticism. Not mentioned are some complaints from ex-workers that have surfaced over the years, which spawned a cover story last year in SF Weekly.

Ultimately, “Kink” has an undeniably voyeuristic quality – it’s a glimpse into a mostly forbidding world, and there’s value in that. After all, the sexual fantasies and fetishes filmed in the century-old armory have been a part of human experience for thousands of years.

“If you’re looking at BDSM porn and you’re getting freaked out about it,” one filmmaker says, “just say to yourself, ‘This isn’t for me, but it is for someone.’ And that’s that.”

Besides, the documentary only keeps you tied up for less than 80 minutes. You can even take the ol’ ball and chain.

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http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Kink-movie-review-Voyeuristic-look-at-world-of-5688853.php