Bliss

SLAMDANCE 2024 FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! Heaven is a moving target that drug addicts try to hit with a spike in the gritty noir-tinged drama Bliss, directed by Joe Maggio. Way out west, Virgil Bliss (Clint Jordan) has been hiding out for two decades under the false name of Dwayne Bells. He is breaking his back doing stable work when he gets a call from back home that the woman who raised him back east had a stroke. He hangs up and buys some opiate pills from fellow stablehand Anton (Juan Fernandez). He gives them to his lady Amy (Faryl Amadeus) so that they can celebrate her new job at Party City. They crush up the pills, cook them in spoons, and inject themselves into the veins of their hands. They both get fly-away high.

“The next morning, Amy stays lying in bed, dead from an overdose.”

The next morning, Amy stays lying in bed, dead from an overdose. Virgil panics, as he is wanted by the police. He snorts some dope, buries his drugs in the yard, and buries Amy in the desert. When he gets back to their house, he finds Jo (Amadeus), Amy’s sister, waiting there. Jo is very religious and has been estranged from her drug-addicted sister. However, it is very important she speak with Amy, when is “Dwayne” expecting her back?

Bliss, which Maggio wrote with actors Jordan and Amadeus, is billed as the second film in a trilogy. The first installment is Maggio’s Virgil Bliss from 2001, also starring Jordan as the same character. It is absolutely not necessary to see the 23-year-old’s first film to totally get hooked on Bliss. Maggio strikes the perfect steel guitar chord of the Call of the West. Its tonal landscape has an intravenous Sam Shepherd feel, with people rolling like tumbleweeds off the end of the Earth.