I’m certain we’ve all had movies (or even shows) that when we finish them, we must ask ourselves, “What the f*** did I just watch!?” Most of my favorite media have a sort of mystery about them. A feeling that you have absolutely no idea what’s going on in the beginning, but the concept is so intriguing that you are compelled to see it through till the end to discover just what it all meant. Some films pull this off pretty well such as Donnie Darko, Dark City, and Identity. Some give you a few answers but continue to pile on distracting questions (Prometheus, anyone?) And some…leave you completely clueless as to what you had just seen. To this day, the entertainingly confusing Southland Tales is the most egregious example of this.
But I may have found this category’s runner up in Bliss, now stre aming on Amazon Prime.Greg (Owen Wilson) can no longer concentrate on his hum drum 9-5 life as he has constant visions of a place he has never been to and a woman he’s never met. After letting his distractions cost him his job, he meets Isabella (Salma Hayek) who happens to resemble the woman in his visions. Not only that, but she reveals she and Greg have the power to control the world around them by swallowing these special crystals. As Greg gets more involved with Isabella, he begins to see that the world as he knows it may not be as real as it seems.
As Matrix-esque as the plot sounds, I definitely won’t say its trying to be The Matrix. At least not completely. I feel like writer/director Michael Cahill took inspiration from a number of films such as Fight Club, Midnight Cowboy, Inception, as well as The Matrix. If it’s one credit I can give to Cahill, he certainly loves to experiment with blending genres. And lord knows, I love me some good mixing of genres. But the key to genre blending in any medium is the overall result must make sense somehow. The elements must harmonize with each other.
And that is the most frustrating part about this whole film. The inspirations Cahill had to make this are actually brilliant. I was absolutely entranced throughout most of the film by trying to guess at the point it was trying to make. I loved all of the elements he gathered to tell this story. But in the end it didn’t feel like a harmony at all but rather different instruments playing different songs very loudly over each other. I couldn’t make out a single melody trying to be expressed, let alone a harmony.
Enough with me trying to explain through vague metaphors. There are still quite a few good things about Bliss. As I mentioned earlier, I was intrigued throughout the entire film. It definitely grabbed my attention right from the beginning and held it up until the (messy) final act. Visually, it was a gorgeous film, taking full advantage of the beautiful locations used as well as some decent visual effects. I even want to give a shout out to the score for being minimalist yet effective.
As for the acting…well I’m unsure of what to say. I guess Owen Wilson did a good job as I, for brief moments, caught glimpses of a character that wasn’t Owen Wilson. Don’t get me wrong, I love the man, but but he has a very set character he plays that he rarely breaks out of. As for Salma, I’m not even sure what to say. I normally adore her, to the point of having a big ol’ girl crush on her. But her portrayal of Isabella is either the worst acting I’ve ever seen her do or the most brilliant. I can’t honestly say because I was completely confused as to what to make of her character at all.
Really, I’m at a loss as to what to make of this entire movie. Not only did it never give me that “mystery solved” satisfaction I crave, but I can’t even say if it was good or bad. I can say it was pretty, entertaining, and genre defying. But the execution just didn’t cut it. Honestly, I hope its just a case of I’m too stupid to understand it and only those with a high enough IQ could glean the true meaning of it. Regardless, the true meaning of Bliss remains as elusive as the feeling of “bliss” itself.
