Tickled

[Tictacbk]

Directed by:
David Farrier
Dylan Reeve

After stumbling upon a bizarre “competitive endurance tickling” video online, wherein young men are paid to be tied up and tickled, reporter David Farrier reaches out to request a story from the company. But the reply he receives is shocking—the sender mocks Farrier's sexual orientation and threatens extreme legal action should he dig any deeper. So, like any good journalist confronted by a bully, he does just the opposite: he travels to the hidden tickling facilities in Los Angeles and uncovers a vast empire, known for harassing and harming the lives of those who protest their involvement in these films. The more he investigates, the stranger it gets, discovering secret identities and criminal activity.

[wilder]

Wow.

[polkablues]

Wow.

Seconded.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Thirded!

It completely threw me off that this guy sounds like Jon Ronson, who does essentially the same thing.

[03]

this story is the basis of one of the best/most notorious episodes of the dollop, my favorite podcast.
http://thedollop.libsyn.com/dollop-viii-competitive-extreme-tickling
the documentary was actually inspired by the episode.
also search ticklish guys as a channel on youtube to see what is referenced, its pretty horrifying and for some reason xixax won't let me link the channel directly.

[Jeremy Blackman]

This one?

(I think to link channels, you have to use URL brackets.)

https://www.youtube.com/user/LetsTICKLEHim

[jenkins]

what i guessed is what arrived, but so what's interesting is how it arrives. not through the moviemaking so much, although sometimes, i'd rate the movie as a movie, but i'll say it gives me things to think about, dealing with topics of power and privacy mainly.

[pete]

this thing just keeps on getting more salacious. please don't read this until you've seen it:
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/tickled-director-confronted-by-david-damato-los-angeles-screening-1201690233/

[Jeremy Blackman]

What a story. This is indeed a must-see. (I only wish it were available for streaming or rental.)

Quibbles: It feels padded in spots, when I'm sure they had some great interview footage they left out. The problem is we see too many of their investigative and production failures. I suppose that's done to create an arc, but I don't agree with that choice. Makes them seem a little bumbling when what they actually accomplished is really impressive.

Doesn't matter all that much, though. Believe it or not, this feels more like important journalism than a thing to see for its cinematic value.


SPOILS

this thing just keeps on getting more salacious. please don't read this until you've seen it:
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/tickled-director-confronted-by-david-damato-los-angeles-screening-1201690233/

That is one of the most surreal things I've encountered. This man fancies himself a supervillain.