FilmSnobReviews

Title: Bliss
MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Joe Begos
Starring: Dora Madison, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield
Runtime: 1 hr 20 mins

What It Is: Dezzy (Madison) is a struggling artist in Los Angeles. She can’t find inspiration. Facing mounting deadlines and a creative block as vast as LA itself an acquaintance introduces her to Bliss. The hallucinogenic drug seems to help loosen the strains on Dezzy’s mind so that her masterpiece might finally meet its end. It could however also lead to a massive change in Dezzy. One that perhaps she never suspected and wouldn’t believe.

What We Think: This movie stinks. Not only is it a seizure-inducing nightmare but it isn’t a particularly clever one. The only thing I found really interesting about this was the 16mm in which it was shot blown up into 32mm. That gave this a grit necessary to sort of work. Sadly, it could not overcome the subpar script. Too much of the verbal is a mess and the acting is just not at the correct level. When speaking on the music that is the one saving glory to this film. It is an INTENSE experience when that music hits. There is a sort of hallucinogenic experience to it all. Sadly it falls flat in some of the most important structural areas of filmmaking.

Our Grade: D, Bleh. This is certainly a skip for the average audience. This film is made for a very specific audience and I am not it. It’s all too much and too quickly. It’s a pale, lifeless vessel of a film made to shock for the sake of shocking. Outside of this, I don’t think Begos as a whole is for me. I mean I didn’t care that much for VFW either. Another film directed by the very same man.