Virgil Bliss

Bliss is an apt surname for this man-child whose criminality began in his elementary school years and finished up with graduate studies in Rikers, NYC. Expect a hardened criminal, cynical posture and an impenetrable veneer? You'll find a mannerly southern boy trying to do the right things on the road to recovery.

Virgil is a sympathetic character released, after a brief decompression in a halfway house, to a city beyond his comprehension. Since his New York experience was all in a jail, he's thinking his small town instincts will serve him well here. Unaffected by prison mores, his re-entry is hastened by his unreformed roommate determined to accustom Virgil to the culture of NYC (mean) streets.

Transitions are always painful but our hero is blessed with incremental success. The quest to overcome his past, reform the wayward and recover his long lost integrity is the fascinating struggle that keeps the story rolling. The odds of success are slim but Virgil is not the typical ex-con. And 'Virgil Bliss' is not your typical morality tale. The title role is portrayed by Clint Jordan whose training prepared him with real prison time. Watch for more from this talent and hope that this vehicle gets the mileage to move him on.

Virgil's incremental progress is hindered by the excre-mental patients who inhabit the world of the ex-con and illustrate the problem of recidivism even for the most determined felon. And the viewer is left with the task of solving this conundrum.

Are you up to it?

Ultra low budget movie costing just $700, which is solid proof you do not need any serious money to produce a semi important picture. 'Virgil Bliss', comes from the mud rags and tatters of hyper realism, in fact you are probably watching real people, acting out what appears to be genuine situations but that is where all the skill of the director lies. The chief actor has done real time in prison, so the perfect choice as Virgil, a Southerner that on his release from Rikers (who is then placed in a squalid halfway house), finds himself on the streets of an unkind, harsh and unforgiving reality (shades of 'Midnight Cowboy'). With just a crew of three, this is one impressive and memorable film and free in this instant does not mean cheap.

"Virgil Bliss" was a film I've been meaning to see for some time now. It was a pick at the IFP Market a few years back that I attended with my own script but never got to see. Finally I did on IFC around 1:00 in the morning. What really stood out for me in this film is what stood out in another film by Joe Maggio, "Milk and Honey". The performances. Clint Jordan plays the troubled man-child just released from Rikers. In the beginning I thought it was a strange pairing of this "southern boy" in a NYC maximum security prison but after the rules were established of who this person was I found myself a part of his experience. His experience is a inevitable journey through the hard, cold reality of an ex-con set free to live in the dead end world of starting back at square one. The object of his innocent desire is Ruby, a ten dollar a blow job prostitute played amazingly by Kirsten Russel. The prostitute role in film is a dime a dozen but to see it played believably is rare. She's troubled and she is trouble. Virgil has no chance after he's released. All the elements of the outside world drag him back into the belly of the beast. We know he is doomed and yet we watch anyway because maybe just maybe this good intentioned career criminal might escape the life he has been apart of for so long.

I really had to keep reminding myself that I was actually watching a MOVIE, and not experiencing a real scenario. The acting is absolutely STUNNING; the characters of Virgil and Ruby are so incredibly realistic that you will forget these are actually actors and not real people. I felt that Virgil and Ruby were soul mates, but due to the hopeless circumstances on which their relationship was based, their union was doomed from the start. This movie is what independent film-making is all about; Virgil Bliss will solidify the fact that regardless of your budget, if you get the right talent, the right director and writer, you can make a masterpiece! 9 out of 10.

"Virgil Bliss" tells the story of a revolving door criminal who is released from Rikers to the streets of NYC where we watch his best intentions to go straight dissolve before our eyes. Maggio tells a moving and believable story and delivers a message about social ills while working with the obvious limitations of the truly independent film maker...no small accomplishment. Pound for pound, "Virgil Bliss" is more movie than most of the stuff coming from Hollywood studios. Viewers, however, should be advised the subject matter is gritty and not pleasant. Recommended for realists only.