Previously lost for decades and only now resurfacing on, of all places, the Filmoteca Espanola's Vimeo account (they did a restoration), Jess Franco's VAYA LUNA DE MIEL ("What a Honeymoon!") is a strange and atypical entry in the director's filmography, itself famous for its idiosyncratic building blocks. Playing almost like a kid's adventure film until it's randomly punctuated by the director's trademark sex and nudity, it's almost impossible to pin down, though constitutes a welcome bit of variety from a filmmaker who, at this point in his career, was often far too bogged down in fidgeting with the focus knob while ogling his wife than stringing together a coherent plot.
Based, quite loosely, on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Gold-Bug," VAYA replaces Poe's master-and-assistant dynamic with Simon (Emilio Alvarez, looking barely 17 but absolutely gorgeous), a rich young bookworm, and his new bride Yolanda (Lina Romay), whom he meets on the beach when she seduces him by suggestively eating a popsicle. It's barely five minutes before the two are hearing wedding bells, and, embarked on their honeymoon in the Banana Islands, the couple is almost immediately sucked into a weird treasure-hunting expedition after a dying man hands them a mysterious scrap of paper. Discovering it contains a coded message visible only upon prolonged exposure to sunlight, Yolanda enlists the demure Simon to follow along with her scheme, which somehow loops in a group of "Chinese" pirates, a sassy toy robot, and random, pointless exposition scenes that bring the plot to a screeching halt.
It's all very silly, and generally fun, even when it starts wearing a little thin. And, in a rare move for Franco, almost no one gets raped or brutally murdered. Again, it's almost a movie you could watch with the kiddies, and sees Franco in one of the more playful states I've yet encountered him. With hundreds of films to his credit by now (particularly counting variant and alternate versions), it's easy to think that by this point we've seen all the director has to offer. Yet, VAYA LUNA DE MIEL proves the guy's still got plenty to surprise us, even 7 years after his passing. When it comes to Franco, I guess we're all still in our honeymoon period - and oh, what a honeymoon it is!
