Let’s be naughty for a change – this is not exactly mainstream, what the heck, it is not even cinema, it is Jesus Franco’s (oh, don’t we all remember him!) latest video film, “Paula-Paula – An audiovisual experience”.
An audiovisual experience – hmmm – it’s an experience alright, and an endurance too if I might add. This must definitely be Franco’s lowest-budgeted film – it helps I suppose if you’re the writer, director and the editor as well. But even then, this is a poorly finished film by his standards. The film’s run-time is 66 minutes, but I bet the actual footage used could be less than half that. The film is prolonged using slow-motion, that too applied during post-production, and using the laziest methods. I think he just desperately needed to get a film out. More than the ‘film’, I found the DVD extras more interesting which included a candid interview with Franco where he talks about cinema in general and his personal experiences as the maker of 200-odd films.
As far I can see, the only merit in the film is its old-school piano jazz composition which he mixes up with some modern flamenco, funk and some classical western. The reason for my post however, is Carmen Montes, a natural beauty with a typical Spanish figure, save the needlessly shaved nether regions. I’m sure she’d look good even when fully clothed, and I dearly wish someone uses her for other than these kind of flicks – she’s capable of more.
Okay, the story – Paula is interrogated by detectives after the murder of her friend, an other Paula. That’s it!
The Spanish curves of Carmen Montes and Paula Davis take centre stage in the inimitable Jesus franco’s late offering, “Paula, Paula”.
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