Paris Pickups (Paris-Pigalle Boulevard Du Vice) Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  3/15/2004

The Little Details

Running Time: 94 min.

Production Date: 04 / 2002

Director: Stuart Canterbury

Cast: Ovidie, Nomi, Tristan, Herve Pierre Gustave (listed here just as H P G), Sophie Evans, Lyna Rush, Sandra Russo, Jessica Fiorentino, Horst Barron, Brandy, Ramon Nomar, Rudolphe Antrim, and Sebastian Barrio

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: Marc Dorcel has put out some great movies. I’m looking forward to this one.

Initial Reaction: It’s okay, but nowhere near what I’ve come to expect after some of Marc Dorcel’s other movies.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting something a little soft with a plot

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting artistic sex with quite a bit of anal

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are very nicely done. The audio is dubbed for English, but normally works very well. The video is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (hopefully Marc Dorcel will go with anamorphic widescreen in the future), and looks great. It’s clear and very nicely lit.

Music: The music is nicely done. It varies between being the only audio and being nicely balanced with the audio, and almost always works very well. There isn’t music through every scene, but the difference just makes the appearance of the music work better.

Menus: The menus are okay. The main menu has a nice look and some simple animation. The chapter menu is very generic and a bit disappointing, letting you choose a scene based on a chapter number and a still from each scene.

The Feature

Life can be funny sometimes. Tristan has a great girl in Nomi, but he’s afraid of having sex with her because the first time he was with a woman he got so nervous he couldn’t perform. He decides to hire prostitute Ovidie to make sure that he can perform when he has to, and ends up striking up a friendship with her. Over time, the friendship becomes more, and although he knows that there’s going to be trouble with Ovidie, he’s not sure which girl he should stay with.

Scene 1 - Ovidie and Tristan

Ovidie starts things out with Tristan, her first john of the night. She takes him across the street and up to a room, and when he asks if she’s taking him to heaven she lets him know that she can take him to hell as well but the price is higher. Tristan later tells her that he’s never had sex before because the last time he went limp. This doesn’t stop Ovidie, who softly mouths his manhood while he lies back on the bed, putting a rubber on him as she goes. She climbs up to ride him cowgirl style before rolling around and taking it missionary style. Finally she lets Tristan pop on her stomach.

This is a pretty hot scene. There’s very nice chemistry between Ovidie and her man, and although it feels a bit soft it never feels boring. I also love how the condom is brought into the scene rather than just magically appearing. I can’t help but think that if a few more people would figure out how to do it like this that they might quell some of the objections to safety in porn. Regardless, this is a pretty hot scene and a nice start for the movie.

Scene 2 - Sophie Evans, Lyna Rush, and a couple guys

After putting on a dance with the help of another girl, Sophie and Lyna take on a couple guys. They get right down to business riding them reverse cowgirl style without anal oral action whatsoever. They trade partners for a little cowgirl action before Sophie takes a double penetration. Finally the girls let the guys pop on their tits.

This is an okay scene. It starts off good, but the editing really holds it back. It’s very choppy, and in the DP the closeups looked like they were for somebody taking it cowgirl style rather than reverse cowgirl style. The girls look great and put some nice energy into the scene, but that just wasn’t enough for me here.

Scene 3 - Brandy and a guy

Brandy starts things out in some nice fetishwear laying back while her slave worships her shoes. He works his way around her legs before she makes him eat her cunt. Since he was a good slave Brandy thanks him with a blowjob before riding him reverse cowgirl style. That’s all it takes for the slave, and after one position he gives her a nice facial with a little help from Brandy’s hand.

This is an okay scene. The dubbing really interfered with the action for me, and the camera frequently focused on something other than what I wanted to see. There’s some okay energy, but the chemistry just didn’t seem to be right for me. This scene just didn’t work for me.

Scene 4 - Jessica Fiorentino and Sandra Russo

Jessica quickly undresses Sandra from her business suit in a bar so that she can go to work tonguing her twat while a few guys watch. After getting Sandra good and warmed up, she sits back on a barstool herself so that Sandra can pay her back. They finish things up with a bit of gash grinding and a kiss.

This is an okay scene. The girls seem to be into each other okay, and are both gorgeous. Unfortunately the camera work didn’t quite work for me once again and held the scene back. This felt like it had the potential for being a good scene, it just didn’t go far enough.

Scene 5 - Ovidie and a guy

Ovidie starts out her second scene with a guy with a shaved head on top of her. He fucks her missionary style while sucking her nipples and then rides her from behind. Finally Ovidie puts her oral skills to work and sucks him to a nice pop on her great natural tits.

This is a pretty good scene. There’s very nice energy and decent chemistry, but it just seemed extremely short. If this scene would have been twice as long I think it would have been four times as good.

Scene 6 - Nomi and Tristan

After a romantic day, Nomi and Tristan get busy on a staircase. They kiss and grope each other passionately before going upstairs to fuck. She rides him and then lays back for him to fuck her missionary style. Finally Tristan pops on her bush.

This is another okay scene. The scene is quick and the camera work left a bit to be desired. There’s great chemistry here and some nice energy, but that just wasn’t enough to take the scene to its full potential.

Scene 7 - Sandra Russo and a guy

After putting on one show in the bar, Sandra puts on another with a guy. He starts out fucking her as she sits back on a barstool before letting her turn around. He fucks each of Sandra’s holes from behind before letting her suck and stroke him to a pop on her tits.

This is another okay scene. Sandra gets into the action very well, and seems extremely satisfied at the ending she brings her partner to. There’s a good feeling to the scene, but once again it seems way too short.

Paris Pickups is an okay feature. Surprisingly, the plot is one of the best things about it. There’s some very nice acting here as well as a decent story, although at times the story doesn’t seem too well focused. The biggest problem is the ending, which was connected about as well as driving east out of Chicago only to end up on a train in Vegas. It also tries blending sex and the story, and it never works well here. The sex as a whole, however, lacks a bit. The scenes are normally short and the camera work seems like it isn’t sure whether it should focus on hardcore or softcore shots. Yes, I know that the two should be mixed up, but here they seem to focus almost exclusively on one or the other. They’re mixed up a little, but never in a way that seems consistent. The thing which impressed me most about Paris Pickups was Ovidie. She doesn’t have a look that normally works for me (her nose ring and stud under her lip are two things which turn me off of almost anybody and her back tattoo doesn’t help), but I thought she did a fantastic job here sexually. She puts great energy and feeling into it, and if she was faking the job she’s done here she should have female performer of the year from every adult organization out there. Paris Pickups is an above average adult movie with a nice idea behind it that just doesn’t go all the way due to a feeling that Canterbury wasn’t quite sure of where he wanted to take the movie.

The Extra Stuff

The photo gallery contains about sixteen very nice looking snapshots. You can advance through them at your own pace, but it takes forever to change pictures partially due to the camera advancing sound that comes up as each picture changes. Bios are included for Ovidie and Nomi, each of which includes a little personal information, a photo of the star, and a list of some of the star’s other movies. Trailers are included for Paris Pigalle, Pulsions sauvages, and Paris Derriere. There’s also web links and a couple featurettes.

The first featurette is on the Venus Berlin 2002 show and lasts about twenty three minutes. It wanders through the show, and even captures some of the stage shows. You get to see some of the celebrities posing with fans and signing for them. Unlike most featurettes like this, it doesn’t just concentrate on Marc Dorcel and his product. There’s also an interview with Tera Patrick in English, an interview with Pierre Woodman in French, and a focus on Larry Flint. It’s a decent featurette, but the bilingual nature of it I can see making it hard for many people to watch as you can’t watch the entire thing in just English or just French. It comes as roughly a third with just music, a third with just English (Tera’s interview), and a third with just French (Pierre’s interview).

The behind the scenes featurette lasts a little over twenty minutes. There isn’t a lot of interviews in the featurette, but you do get to see some of the scenes being shot and get to wander around the set. Most of the dialogue is done in French, which isn’t surprising since the movie was originally shot in French, but there aren’t any subtitles or anything else if you don’t speak the language. This isn’t much of a problem during the scenes being shot, but it is more than a little annoying during the interviews. Most of the featurette, however is just set to music, so you don’t even need to worry about what language you speak. It normally works well, but compared to Wicked’s normal great behind the scenes featurettes it does lack a little.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, group, DP, anal, interracial, and lesbian

Raincoat Factor: Medium

Condom Usage: 100%

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Wicked’s DVDs can be found online for between $15 and $30 with many stores offering them for around $21. Rent this one before you buy it. It isn’t up to the standards I’ve expected from Marc Dorcel, although it is better than much of what I’ve seen from Stuart Canterbury. The technical aspects are nicely done, and there are some decent care put towards the extras as well.

Note to Wicked Pictures / Marc Dorcel Production: First, please move from non-anamorphic widescreen to anamorphic widescreen. If you’re going to do something, do it right, and anamorphic is the right way to do widescreen. It’s great to see you trying to put out movies for both French and English speaking people, but please make your DVDs so that they can all be watched by people from those languages rather than having things mixed up between the languages. Dubbing would be good, but subtitles would also work to make the featurettes more viewer friendly. At the very least, please list the names of the movies in both English and French for the trailers. Finally, as many people have trouble identifying performers in foreign movies but want to see more of them, a cast listing by scene would be an excellent addition!

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

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