WHEN I first heard of Jerrold Tarrog’s movie “Bliss” getting an X-rating, I wondered if the commotion was political in nature and that if it had something to do with Kadamay taking over housing projects. But as it turned out, good old nudity was still the agent provocateur.
The word “bliss,” has, in western culture, straddled both religious ecstasy and the thrill of breaking taboos. Both of course have sexual underpinnings. Tarrog’s poetic treatise on showbiz, that is titled as such, does not blink on the unavoidable sensuality that goes with it.
The plot is about a movie star who wants to get out of the calculated formula system of fame but had a coma inducing accident before she could. Tarrog however does not give us a strictly linear presentation. Instead the director offers alternating spirals, one from the coma patient’s consciousness, then the conflicting interests of her exploiters (boyfriend, mother, director) and the molesting lesbian nurse’s mind.
Two movies leap to mind watching Tarrog’s “Bliss.” One is “Vanilla Sky” (a Tom Cruise starrer which was a remake of the Spanish movie “Abre Los Ojos”) and the other, Pedro Almodovar’s “Habla Con Ella” (released in English as “Talk to Her”). Both deal with the consciousness of a coma patient. In the Almodovar movie the patient is impregnated by a male nurse and recovers when she delivers the child. The nurse gets jailed.
In “Bliss,” the spiraling sets of awareness fuse into a climax when the actress’ exploiters go into a screaming match while she jolts up in bed as her nurse goes down on her.
Iza Calzado won the Best Actress award in the Osaka Asian Film Festival for her portrayal of Jane Ciego, the actress who fell into comatose. Hers
however is not the only stellar acting performance in the movie. Audie Gemora always steals scene whenever he appears on screen as the gay director dreaming of making it to Cannes. The performance of Adrienne Vergara as the molesting nurse is dark and haunting.
But despite these brilliant acting performances, “Bliss” is first and foremost, a director’s movie. Here, Tarrog creates a rich tapestry of showbiz life and making it an allegory for comatose.
*Bliss opens in theaters nationwide on May 10.