Tarog in the realm of the cerebral

Film review: Bliss

MANILA, Philippines - Everything about Jerrold Tarog’s Bliss is rarely explored territory in Philippine cinema. It is not an easy film to digest as the scenes shift from reality to long dream sequences that reveal quite a lot about Jane Ciego (Iza Calzado) in her childhood, her struggles and the thing she had long wanted to conquer in her struggling movie career.

Unable to find fulfillment in her blockbuster films, the character aims for respectability by doing an indie film using her own resources.

But on her way to wrapping up her masterpiece, she goes through a cerebral journey into her past and present.

The character’s descent into endless nightmares and with strange faces and strange noises hounding her leads us into the pathetic state of her mind.

The men who play her husband(s) — TJ Trinidad and Ian Veneracion — are seen perennially asking her to sign blank checks for assorted bills and expenses.

If they were such in her mind, then she is indeed in deep trouble. Which means her worth is measured by the checks she signs and magnified by the manner in which her arms are practically twisted for her to act fast before her complete descent into madness.

Like it or not, this is an ambitious project. The screenplay took months to write and it took weeks to score.

In the mind-boggling film, the filmmaker wore three hats — as director, writer and musical scorer.

From the outset, it is clear that this is Calzado’s film from beginning to end. Her acting prowess has taken a good turn and here she is no less than brilliant. Her focus and consistency are at once impressive and beyond this, it is obvious she was ready for the unconventional character.

But the other members of the supporting cast are equally impressive. Adrienne Vergara (as Lilibeth/Rose) delineates a role that is at once multi-layered and that most-talked about scene came through without any sense of lasciviousness identified with the act.

Veneracion and Trinidad alternating as Carlo the husband added to the deepening mystery of the strange case of Jane Ciego.

Audie Gemora as the director gave his part a new level of obsession and the long hours of shooting were opportunities for the writer to make a statement on the working conditions of directors in this country. Through it all, Gemora left his mark. His character is obsessed with Cannes and the awards that go with it. His flamboyance and the comic timing with which he drops lines are memorable moments in the film.

In Bliss, Shamaine Centenera drops her image as caring and martyr mother in a popular teleserye and carves a shocking portrait of a stage mother in the movie world. How she has made the part as obnoxious and reprehensible without too many lines is indeed a tribute to the power of her acting.

On the whole, Bliss reflects a director who is not afraid to try new things. Obviously, his kind of fulfillment doesn’t lie on blockbusters (his Heneral Luna was a box-office triumph) and here he leads moviegoers to explore a new turf in filmmaking that is at once engrossing as it is mystifying.

Asked by The STAR how a director with solid background in music gets along as musical scorer, Tarog replied: “I treat film characters and their lines as notes in a musical score. How they end up in the story is a challenge for me to do some counterpoints, which is what I enjoy as a musician.”

Bliss opens on May 10 in cinemas.