Everybody wants a taste of BLISS
As a young storyteller who always sees local cinema as a great drama class where actors cry so heavy, move so wide, speak so loud as if there’s no tomorrow, BLISS gives a new taste that is untasted, a story that is untold, everything is new about this most talked Jerrold Tarog film.
BLISS completely changes the look of Philippine cinema and at the same time challenges young filmmakers to always put steps forward. It excites Filipino viewers.
Jerrold Tarog in his most honest thoughts, “One of the objectives of the film is to present something na hindi pa nagagawa in local cinema. Shocking and disturbing siya in a way. But I’m confident that the audience is ready.”
I feel like I’m watching a David Fincher film, a Gillian Flynn story, a Natalie Portman intense acting on screen. Everything about Bliss is so on point.
Let’s start.
BLISS is a psychosexual thriller film. It tells the story of Jane Ciego (Iza Calzado). Jane entered showbiz at a young age. Though equally popular and successful, Jane, now in her 30’s, has become tired of the usual projects she’s been getting. She decides to produce her won film to win some respect in the industry. But things do not go as planned. A terrible accident on the set of her dream project leaves her temporary crippled, trapped in a house filled with bizarre phenomena and under the care of her unfeeling husband and a strange nurse. With the horrors and madness escalating each day, Jane’s simple dream becomes an endless nightmare.
The story itself is so intense and makes one crazy. Plot after plot. Twist after twist. Jerrold writes it so well, pointing due north. It’s different. It’s really crazy.
You know, BlISS may not touch the surface of a usual-typical-audience but it somehow relates the story of an ordinary Filipino who are abused.
We are abused. As a human who wants everything in life, who wants fame, who wants money, who wants perfect life, who wants perfect happiness, who wants perfect partner, who wants perfect world—to the point that we abused ourselves just to get that everything in life—or abused by someone, or abused by people that surround us.
Because people have never been contented in life. We want to push ourselves. We want to break that wall that protect us as a human. And by breaking that wall, we become nobody, we become nothing, we become tired, we become exhausted, we become the person that we’re not supposed to be. That monster in us turns into disaster, into drama, into tragic, into hell.
BLISS pictures abusive society, or in other way, abused society. As you push to be that monster that you’re not supposed to be, you embody that, you adopt that as you grow, and makes everyone really crazy.
At the end, who we really are? What kind of monster we are?
Its perfect story backs up with perfect cinematography. The color of the film decides the mood of the film. You can really feel how intense the story is. How crazy it is. How wild it is.
It uses symbolisms that makes it haunting. Cut to cut. Great editing.
It is visually satisfying. Inhales, exhales, without telling it, without narrating it, you can actually see how intense and wild the film is.
While visuals perfectly doing its role, musical scoring as well. BLISS has its intense feels because of the scoring. Backgrounds are perfectly fit to the tone of the film. It’s not just the film is crazy, but you become crazy as well because the music sounds so crazy.
I like the avantgarde-ness and the minimalism of the production design. It shows its minimalist side, using the minimalist house of Jane Ciego. And the avantgarde-ness through inner monsters that are keep on showing when Jane is heading the door of the house.
And the most important, acting style, how the director executes his words and ideas through actors acting ability.
Iza Calzado, one of today’s great actors, levels up herself as an actress who is known for her powerful drama prowess. Drama is a just-just for Iza. So I think BLISS really empowers her as an actress. It teaches her to be not just the celebrity we have known her, not just the pretty face she is, but it totally transforms her as the next big thing in intense acting.
She portrays the role very well, giving her an international acting nod. No doubt. She is really great in this film. She becomes the monster she is in this film. Imagine and remember Iza in her most honest calm acting style in Piolo and Toni movie, where break down scene is not that literal break down scene, she executes that in a calm manner. This time, I see her soul as an actress. I see that deep soul, wanting to give everything. I see that heart that is screaming. She is not just a celebrity, she is an actress.
Less movement, more eyes. Less talk, intense acting. Iza is giving us that vibe in the film. I want to see more of that. That million-worth acting. That is power. There is something about Iza in this film that almost like Natalie Portman feels. That’s what she’s giving me.
A revelation for me is Adrienne Vergara since this is my first time to see her on screen. And I fall inlove with her acting ability. She gives an exact amount of craziness. She really is a psycho for me. Like I sleep, eat, breathe with her, seeing her face when closes my eyes at night. She’s that memorable. She plays Rose Vergara and as film introduces her, “Every rose has its thorn.”
Shamaine Buencamino as always is a star. Because Iza is a star, she as well a star. Playing a possessive mother, she touches the character in her way, in a way that we know is exciting. She always that exciting actress for me.
And we thank BLISS’ director Jerrold Tarog, and its actors, and all the people behind this film because they bring new food to the table, new color to the wheel, new story to the paper. This film is beyond.
So you want a taste of BLISS?
(Josh Mercado is a young advocate and news editor of psr.ph)
