Whore

Maria Lidon is given credit for directing this documentary. It's funny because in the credits someone by the name of Luna appears to be its director, and frankly, we were under the impression that Spanish director, Bigas Luna, a man that loves to shock his audience, was the actual man directing.

What makes a woman turn into prostitution? The obvious answers would be poverty, desperation, sexual abuse, and having been deceived. But the writers of the documentary take the approach to the way some of these women have ended working in the world's oldest profession because the allure of the money that can be made, or just because they honestly like the idea of selling sex for a living. There are only a couple of males that talk frankly about the way they sell their bodies.

"The Life" might be deceiving for the casual viewer since in the credits we see some familiar names like Daryl Hannah, Denise Richards and Joaquim de Almeida, but their presence in the film is merely decorative. After seeing and listening to all the women interviewed speak openly about how they view their chosen 'career', these actors seem to be in the wrong picture.

Other than being curious about what "The Life" is about, nothing new is learned from the people being interviewed.

A writer is interviewing prostitutes, porn stars and gigolos for her latest book. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the scholarship of the student of PHD of anthropology Rebecca (Denise Richards) finishes and she has financial problem to keep her apartment. Her neighbor and call-girl Adrianna (Daryl Hannah) introduces her to prostitution.

"Yo Puta" is a weird and pointless movie that explores the underworld of sex through interviews. In 1991, the sexy Theresa Russell filmed the good Ken Russell's "Whore" talking to the camera in a pseudo-documentary style, and the result was an original movie. Unfortunately "Yo Puta" wastes interesting information in a dull screenplay. I have recently watched "Lilja 4-Ever", "Anjos do Sol" and "Human Trafficking", and all these movies are related to the contemporary slavery of the traffic of women. "In Yo Puta", this subject is approached and lost in the shallow screenplay. The story of Rebecca and Adrianna is awful and ridiculous. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Garotas de Programa" ("Call-Girls")

MRA Entertainment, the distributor responsible for selling Yo Puta (or simply Whore as it is known here) on DVD, build a strong case for false advertising here. As opposed to the rather charming cover picture that appears on the IMDb entry, the Region 4 PAL DVD cover features both Daryl Hannah and Denise Richards so prominently that one could be forgiven for thinking they are the stars of the show. Although they are the biggest names in the film, their performances are little more than bookmarks for interviews. That these interviewees are so repugnant both in verbiage and physicality undermines the whole film. Just as we are getting interested in what the paid actors are doing, the film cuts away to interviews with actual putas who mostly only succeed in making the profession seem as repulsive as I am sure many feel it is. I am indifferent, having had no personal experience with it of any kind, but this film did not convert me either way because it comes off more as a student film. One that would get some very well-earned bad marks.

The plot that drives what little non-archival footage there is revolves around Richards' character, a mid-twenties student in anthropology. She needs money to pay the bills, and has a neighbour who works in prostitution. Having no other means to get herself out of the financial quagmire (this much I could relate to), she eventually tries prostitution. That is literally all there is to the plot, and it is stretched out over so much archival footage of prostitutes talking about their work that the main plot feels more like filler. There is one piece of archival footage that looks like the sort of thing one gets from one of those websites I will not mention here. You know the kind, the sort that have themes revolving around common attributes of models. Most of them offer free samples, so you can see what good there is in Yo Puta on said sites without paying for a rental.

Which brings me to my advice to both Hannah and Richards. Fire your agents, and do so now. Hannah already knows being a has-been, and while her appearance in films I will not glorify by mentioning here gave her a bit of a kick-start, she seems anxious to go back. At least judging by her appearance here. Richards' career has utterly tanked, and after seeing The Third Wheel, I cannot keep a straight face while calling this unjust. Joaquim de Almeida has little more than an extended cameo, portraying a rich customer. And these three actors basically make up the sum total of the legitimate actors in the film, unless you count the extras. Since three actors whose careers are, let us just say, in a lull does not a rounded, dynamic cast make. As previously mentioned, the interview cast do a lot less than pick up the slack. Given that a film about an illegitimate trade that brings many social problems needs a sympathetic focus at the best of times, this is very bad.

I would make statements about the cinematography, but since it mostly consists of one person standing before the camera and speaking, there really aren't any opportunities to be creative in this department. We could have done without the footage of one prostitute on a toilet with an obviously blue-screened backdrop, to say the least. This amplifies the ugliness of the subject three-fold, which is the last thing this particular individual needs. The music is by turns irritating or simply indifferent. But the real kicker is that two people are credited with writing this piece of crap. Sure, there is dialogue here, but no human being in their right mind should own up to having written it. I have never heard of the editor who is credited with working on Yo Puta, but two possibilities occur to me regarding the way it was cut together. Either this editor gave up after reel upon reel of barely cohesive footage, in which case it is the directors fault, or he simply cut the footage together in such a manner as to give it no transition, as a sort of practical joke.

I gave Yo Puta a two out of ten. Like Baise Moi, it tries to make a claim to being extreme. It gives nothing to back this claim up with, and thus winds up little more than a limp noodle. I would not even recommend seeing it for free.

Yo Puta is interesting in the sense that it uses the documentary format (it's not a documentary - it just looks like one). Interspersed with various interviews of whores is a lame storyline populated by Daryl Hannah and Denise Richard's characters.

Yo Puta is probably most enlightening to people who have no idea of the difference between a streetwalker and a private escort, or a gigolo and a whore. Thematically, it offers a clichéd view of the world's oldest profession, and offers nothing new to the audience.

There is no emotional engagement with the purported whores. And their stripped-in backgrounds (mostly hotel rooms or other cheesy places) is distracting to say the least. Denise Richards and Daryl Hannah do little to save the anemic movie, mostly because their script is almost non-descript, predictable and totally lacks any concept of tension.

You won't miss a thing if you skip this movie. Actually, almost anything you do will be a better use of your time.

Many of the previous comments were close-minded. I haven't seen this film in several months, but it's ingrained in my mind. "The Life" was not about supporting prostitution, but more about the reasons/situations that lead to and exist, in such a "profession" world-wide. The element of documentary and fiction was a different take on the subject. If the fictional part of the story was just as candid and raw as the documentary portion, then the film would've been better. The subtitles were somewhat distracting due to speed. But overall, the film accomplished it's task. The theme holds, "Prostitution shouldn't be glorified, but accepted as reality. Knowing reality illuminates the real world."-shav