Bliss (2021 Movie)

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Good day everyone. It's another great time to share my movie review with you guys. Today's movie I'll be reviewing is titled Bliss.

It's a mind-bending love story following a character called Greg, who after recently being divorced and then fired, meets the mysterious Isabel, a woman living on the streets who is convinced that the polluted, broken world around them is a computer simulation. Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek stars Greg and Isabel. When we first meet Greg, it's a chaotic scene at his job.

Phones are constantly ringing with tons of commotion and noise all around. He's dreamily sitting at his desk, drawing almost obsessively, but we don't get the sense that it's relaxing. There's a feeling of anxiety and tension.

His work doesn't seem like it's a positive place to be at all. He meets Isabel in a bar across the street from his work, and she tells him the world isn't real, and then proves it by manipulating someone's actions. They embark on a journey together of carefree living.

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When you're convinced that the world around you isn't real, and then the people that you see aren't real either, then actions don't have consequences. So you can do what you want, and it doesn't matter. This is not a totally fun watch.

I was tense through most of it, and not necessarily because of sequences, but more so because I'm worried for their mental state. This has the feel of The Matrix combined with Inception and a small dash of Chronicles. The setting is grimy, and the film is gray-toned, just to give us this dingy feel all the way around.

Isabel doesn't live in a very nice place either, which helps to add doubt to our minds as to the validity of her claims that the world they're living in is just a simulation. There does come a point, though, where the visuals change, where we get to see a different reality. I mean, one that is clean, shiny, sun-filled.

The whole tone is inviting and warm, but it still retains this bit of anxiety to it. As I'm watching, I'm still questioning what I'm looking at. Which is real? Or is any of it? I mean, there is some good ambiguity to the story, which is really helped along by Owen Wilson's performance.

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His characteristic stuttering and stammering and whisper-like speech works perfectly for this character of Greg. It gives him the lack of confidence and suredness that is vital to the character. I mean, when Greg is unsure and discombobulated, we are too.

By the end of the film, I'm really questioning what reality is. In that sense, the story executes well. There are several scenarios I can see as the truth through the movie and have rational explanations for each.

Regardless, though, of what the truth is, there's an overall sense of acceptance by all of the characters that provide us with satisfying closure. There may still be some ambiguity to the ending, but we rest knowing that we can be okay with that outcome. The visuals and special effects they utilize in this work really well.

Some of it feel like they came out of Chronicle, which I referenced before. We're not talking these massive budget special effects at these moments, but effective use of visuals that are just fun and they end up working. Another area of special effects is the use of a hologram type of interaction.

I found these to be really convincing and well done, but also they didn't overuse them, which I appreciate. There's an intensity to the storytelling. There's this urgency that is pushed, first by Greg to get a handle on what's going on, and then by Isabel to help them hold on to reality.

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This is all compounded by Greg's daughter. She's worried for her father and tries to connect with him, and this then provides extra conflict for Greg. He's kind of trapped between two worlds, one where if he believes that it's not real, his daughter doesn't exist, and the other that is warm and peaceful, but without a family.

This mental struggle is tough to watch, and you can see how it could tear a mind apart. I mean, trying to reconcile two different realities where only one can remain, and how do you make that choice? There's a depressing overtone to what we're watching also, and even at times a cruelty. I found some parts made me really despise both Greg and Isabel because of their choices.

I mean, sure, what they were doing was based on the fact that they didn't believe the world around them was real, but for us as observers, it's kind of hard to watch. I think the film can make you question what is contentedness, and where does happiness lie? Our characters have to answer that as well, and at one point they bring up an interesting point that examines if the only time we can be happy is if we have a negative experience to compare it with. Is your current job wonderful because your last one was terrible? Is bliss just a constant state of comparison, meaning that it's something we'll always have to chase? I find that to be depressing too.

I mean, I'd rather be joyous, regardless of circumstances, than if something terrible happens, I can be sad but not have my world come crashing down. So this is well acted and an intriguing premise. I think the story was executed well, and it provides us with both enough ambiguity and closure to be satisfying.

With that being said, it's still a pretty dark and depressing watch, and I don't think it's something that I'm going to revisit. Anyways, I'm giving the movie a seven on a scale of one to ten. There's sex, brief nudity, a lot of profanity, and violence, so viewers discretion is advised.