Bliss: Em Busca da Felicidade

This film is marketed as a sci-fi, altered reality adventure. It isn't. "Bliss" is a drug-induced hallucination from the perspective of a man who has lost touch with reality and fallen in love with an enabler. This is his struggle to regain his sobriety and reconnect with his estranged daughter. The film is a bit messy and the acting is simply passable... However, it is fresh and inventive, and it moves along swiftly.

Those who marketed this movie made a huge mistake. They gave a high expectation of a Syfy type movie. I watched this movie with exactly that in mind and it left me lost and confused. I really believe it's because of the lasting impression the marketing left on me.

It took me just about past the midway point of the movie I started to realize it wasn't about Syfy at all. It's about drug addiction, the mentally disabled, and homelessness. The moment I recognized this, I had a better impression of the movie. Having a career in LE in a city I experienced many with those difficulties. It's easy to criticize the homeless or dismiss them, but if you had a better understanding of the issues they're having mentally your feelings would change. And I think this movie did a good job putting the viewer inside the mind of an addict/mentally ill person. I only wish those in charge of the marketing would have done a better job.

With having a better understanding of the movie, the actors did a great job.

Watching this movie was both refreshing and challenging. I had no idea that the marketing had been so off target.

It is quite remarkable in its effort of painting the depths of addiction. Still, maybe its a condition you need to have first hand experience with in order to understand the narrative.

Hopefully time will repair its rating.

Another creative wonder by Mike Cahill. Unless someone fully understands, or has/had addiction and/or mental health issues, this film may be confusing.

I like how Cahill thinks out of the box, and the way this story was portrayed, was genius, albeit flawed. His screenplay was somewhat all over the place, sloppy, and did have some plot and technical issues. The story didn't flow and transition as well as it could have, like it did in his earlier film, Another Earth. Although the pacing was slightly better in this one, it still needed improvement and less filler for the 103 min runtime. For me, this film missed the mark and had much more potential than what I saw. Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek were great in their roles, as were the rest of the cast.

It's a different film, but once you get what's going on, you'll appreciate it a little more. It's a decent one-time watch. So it's a 7/10 from me.

Mike Cahill never seems to disappoint me so far. All of his works are very creative and thought-provoking. This film is a truly awesome exploration of the human mind just like Enemy (2013) was, which is also an underappreciated and misunderstood film. There are at least 3 ways to interpret this film of what is real and what is fake, there are tons of hidden details which give hints. There's also tons of funny references to popular culture and some multiple-meaning themes as well. I say this is some fresh air in comparison to all the mindless films we get nowadays.