BROKEN DOLLS

Produced by Kevin Collins and Karen Wong
Directed by Jess Franco
Written by Jean-Claude Carrier and Jess Franco

Tona - Lina Romay
Don Martin - Paul Lapidus
Beatriz - Mavi Tienda

I've failed on my promise. A few reviews back I'd sworn to hunt down some of Jess Franco's older work to see if he ever made "good" movies, but just couldn't bring myself to actually pay for something by this man who makes Ed Wood Jr. look like the Orson Wells of the b-movie world. Kinda strange when you think about, Franco was AD Wells' unfinished Don Quixote movie and should have learned a thing or two....and I mean that literally.

So, no, I never did see anything watchable from Franco. The films of his that I've reviewed have almost all been watched with my finger on the remote....fast-forwarding to the story. That's the truly sad thing about a Franco movie, you fastforward through the sex because the women are ones you don't want to see naked and frolicking. I applaud the spirit of Lina Romay, Jess Franco's real-life wife, for still being comfortable enough in her middle-aged body that she still shows it off, but I just don't want to see it. And 9 times out of 10, if anyone is getting naked in a Franco pic, it's Lina.

The sex scenes just turn me off in general, and the current Sub Rosa crop of Franco flicks are primarily sexual romps (which means I'm always turned off watching them). Somewhere during his 120+ directing gigs, Franco picked up the talent of taking attractive women and making them repulsive. That's not something you want to do if the sex is the selling point of your production.

BROKEN DOLLS is no exception. It's perhaps the biggest turnoff of any Franco flick I've seen, and yet the most interesting. At least this time around the sex serves the story and isn't the story itself. And no, I'm not saying this is a good movie. I'm merely stating that the very fact that the sex serves a purpose makes this his most interesting outing. The movie itself is about as attention grabbing as that ant you stepped on at lunch time. What? You don't remember stepping on that ant? Go figure....

Franco explores familial dynamics in a hailstorm of sexual dysfunction manifesting itself in a sea of incestual taboos. Overweight middle-aged fathers have sex with hot young lolitas while their daughters secretly watch and masturbate. Mother's spank their daughters into sexual submission while their fathers secretly watch and masturbate. And young daughters seek the arms of father substitutes when daddy doesn't show them enough love and attention.

When you watch everything unfold, you'll be as sickened as I was. All the incestual thematic elements are creepy enough, but Franco's lingering camera makes your stomach churn with nausea. That sick part of your brain desires the briefest of glimpses because there's something fun about witnessing a taboo. You can later go and tell your pals how "f*cked up" something was. But when that taboo is held long past your tolerance limit, you are forced past childlike giddiness into adult uncomfortableness.

Perhaps that's Franco's point, to make you uncomfortable. He sets the movie in a sunny Spanish shoreline where the sunworshipers prance around in their birthday suits without a care in the world. The beach and sun are all that matters in this idyllic world. But like David Lynch with BLUE VELVET, things aren't always what they seem and once the surface is scratched you find that there's no safety in your everyday world.. There's madness in Franco's world and it's a dark amalgam of anger, sex, and hopelessness that's pulling the souls of all those around into the shadows of corruption. Viewers are sucked in by the capricious lifestyle and sun-ripened scenery only to be walloped on the head with foul naked bodies writhing in vile-inducing ecstasy.

Then again, I could be giving Franco too much credit. I've often been told I read too much into these kinds of films. That very well might be true.

The DVD also contains a second feature titled HELTER SKELTER, and "no," it's not about Manson. It's wall to wall sex. Some of the scenes are straight out of previous Sub Rosa releases, but other footage looks new. The movie is more of a mess than BROKEN DOLLS, but it should please die hard Franco fans who enjoy his sleazier projects.

Right now I'm going to take a shower.

Sub Rosa Studios