BLISS ****
Cast: Iza Calzado, Ian Veneracion, TJ Trinidad, Shamaine Buencamino, Audie Gemora, Adrienne Vergara, Michael de Mesa.
Dir: Jerrold Tarog.
After an actress injures herself on the set of her latest film, strange, disturbing start to happen in her life. To say more would be to spoil the film, and one of the joys of seeing this is watching it unfold. This is not only the best Filipino film of 2017 so far, it's one of the best films of the year so far period. After beautifully tackling a romantic drama (Sana Dati) and a historical epic (Heneral Luna), Jerrold Tarog gives probably his best work in this superb mind-bending psychosexual thriller. It is a narratively and stylistically ambitious film, drawing inspirations as varied as Ingmar Bergman and Satoshi Kon. And he pulls it off beautifully. The film keeps you guessing and puts you at the edge of your seats. Definitely a must-see.
P.S. This was rated X upon initial review and later R-18 without cuts in the second review. I don't understand how this got an X in the first place. Yes, there's nudity, sex and violence in it but nothing so graphic as to warrant an X from a reasonable normal adult.