Virgil Bliss

"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.

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.

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?

I'd never seen a film by NYC indie filmmaker Joe Maggio before until I watched a double feature of his new film "Bitter Feast" paired with "Virgil Bliss." Both films were exceptional but the real find is this $700 wonder from 2001.

First and foremost are the performances from the three principals, namely Kirsten Russell, whose Ruby easily diminishes the term "Hard as Nails" into an understatement. When she first meets our title character, played with a poignant down-to-earth realism by Clint Jordan, she laughs in his face. She's a dime-hooker who camps out in some of the skeezier parts of New York, nursing a drug problem, and fooling herself into thinking she'll ever see the child she has long bartered away in the process.

The power Russell brings to this role cannot be oversold. You should have every reason to hate this character, but somehow you don't. She plays the role so well that as her rock hardened heart begins to thaw you can't help but have the same (almost ridiculous) hope that Virgil has of making her love herself. A scene where she finally allows herself to bask in his love --- she has to do it in the privacy of their bathroom, fondling and wearing one of his shirts --- could be taught in an acting class.

Anthony Gorman brings a scary vicariousness to the part of Virgil's ex-halfway house roommate --- a perpetual Hell's Angel wannabe who desperately needs someone to make him feel better about himself.

Maggio's writing is superlative. This is a "standard" Straight Time-type story. You know Virgil's in for a rough ride, and everything he encounters rings with just the right amount of toughness, not overplaying the hand for sensationalism's sake but vivid enough to make it all seem too frighteningly real.

This is not a slick movie. There is nothing feel-good or commercial about it. No, it's guerrilla filmmaking John Cassevetes would be proud of and there ain't enough of it, for my taste.

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.