Making it’s World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival 2019 in the ‘Feature Narrative’ screening strand, Joe Begos’ BLISS takes us into the world of dark and extreme art.
Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is an artist and painter who is not exactly scoring the sort of success that the likes of a Hockney or Picasso might have prided themselves on. Her agent has just released her from his books and her landlord is demanding cold, hard rent money. Her latest work is not exactly giving the world a sense of perspective and the artist’s block is beginning to set in.
Her friends Courtney (Tru Collins) and Ronnie (Rhys Wakefield) certainly have the answer to her problems – a few hedonistic pleasures and no shortage of mind-altering substances waiting in the wings. Then, she is invited to take a drug called ‘Bliss’, which suddenly unlocks the block she has been determined to get rid of, but unforeseen side effects are also in the mix…
A film which features a drug called ‘Bliss’ is a contradiction in terms – and Begos certainly knows how to hit the audience on all fronts. A warning at the very outset about flashing images is not to be taken lightly – and this film hits you from the get-go with its intense cocktail of drugs and violence.
Although the plot is slight and simplistic in it’s approach and the film is not designed to be an endorsement of drug addiction and appreciation, it retains a raw power throughout. This is thanks in no small part to the central key performance of Dora Madison, who owns the screen as Dezzy, a woman who clearly is on the brink of either a new dawn of artistic creativity, or a deep and extreme fall into disrepute.
It’s been described as a harking back to the heady days of New York ‘Grindhouse’ when 42nd Street would show all manner of exploitation films, long before the Mayors of later decades initiated a clean-up of the area. Films like THE EXTERMINATOR (1980) and TAXI DRIVER (1976) would help feed into the demand of lonely and detached individuals who would always look for that extra secret thrill in their spare time.
Modern audiences will certainly detect other influences in the film, notably Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA and Danny Boyle’s TRAINSPOTTING, coupled with THE LOST BOYS and TWILIGHT thrown in for good measure. You might need a beer or two afterwards and want to head out to your local club for a dance or two, but make sure you go home and have something to eat on the way or when you get in.
