Customer Reviews

Bliss [VHS]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I liked this film enough that I couldn't let it go unreviewed, nor leave the totally inadequate professional review unanswered. This movie is about Harry, a story-telling advertising executive who, after a near-death experience, returns to an intensely introspective life. He gradually gets the notion (not without some support) that he is in hell, being punished for his "sins" as a marketer.

The film tracks his increasingly surreal existence, and his ultimate quest for redemption. It is, in turns, bizarre, grotesque, touching, and comedic. It is, in fact, almost as strange as real life, which is saying something.

Harry inspires sympathy, allowing you to experience his strange journey through all of its twists and turns. The movie ultimately is about a warped and unbalanced modern culture, but it delivers its message through Harry's (delusional?) perceptions of the world, in a treatment that is much more humorous than preachy.

If you like offbeat movies that touch on the metaphysical and provide a challenging counterpoint to some of our cultural norms (Frank Zappa meets Joseph Campbell? <shudder>), you might find this movie to be very special indeed.

This is truly one of the greatest movies of all time, especially if you are a baby boomer, born between 1946 and 1963 (don't worry, this assures it will eventually be on DVD). For some reason, all of us love, or are sympathetic to the concept of, Australia. This movie exemplifies the brilliance and social understanding of our colleagues in the Antipodes. The movie captivates you with its eccentrincities, and weaves a stream of consciousness motif that James Joyce would truly envy. Yet it is always entertaining, and as others have pointed out, it has the most beautiful endings and overall themes of any movie made in the last quarter of the last century. Also the soundtrack is beautiful; I've been trying to find it remastered, but have already carefully made magnetic media copies of the movie and soundtrack in my archives. I can't wait for a critical mass of folks from my generation to rediscover it so that we may all enjoy a digital version of the movie and the soundtrack in our lifetime....

This film is not for everyone, but I loved it. It grabs you from the opening scene where Harry Joy dies of a heart attack and never stops surprising you. I don't want to say more since it might interfere with your viewing enjoyment. Siskel and Ebert once commented the difference between a good movie and a great movie is the ending. This is a great movie. Only warning is that one must watch it a few times to get all the details since so much is going on and there are so many unusual plots to the story. So keep watching and you will be surprised at the brillance, the daring, the acting and the truth of it all. This film is a comedy, a drama, a love story, and a shock on the senses. Don't try to make sense of it, let it take you along for a surreal down-under experience. A truly remarkable film. Hope it gets to DVD one day to reach a wider audience. Quirky, grity, sexy, shocking, and more. Do yourself a favor and see this film.

This is the first movie directed by Ray Lawrence (of "Lantana" fame), based on a wonderful Peter Carey novel. Twenty years later, it remains a very entertaining black comedy, loaded with humor (of all flavors), a sincere regard for Life's big questions ("What happens when I die, and what must I do now to avoid postmortem unpleasantness?"), and arresting bits of surrealism within an otherwise realistic film. Above all, the film regards its characters with affection, despite their flaws (and they are myriad!).

My VHS copy is wearing out from multiple viewings. The folks at Village Roadshow in Australia released a 2-disc DVD set in September 2005, complete with a separate director's cut, audio commentary, and "script-to-screen" feature. However, this DVD is available only as a Region-4 disc, and will not play on North American (i.e., Region-1) DVD players.

Here's hoping that somebody will decide to release this movie in a Region-1 format, so that the film's North American fans can enjoy it once again.

How can volumes 1-7 of "Green Acres" get on DVD and this is forgotten? Are there no movie buffs out there in the industry at all? Unfathomable. Well, get the tape if you tripped over this, because if you're a movie fan, this is an essential film.

This movie takes you on a life and death journey through the life of Harry Joy, a basically good man who weaves stories that hypnotize his family and neighbors. It's a journey in movements of how Harry earns true love but only by first taking a hellish dive into the ugliness of the commercial, poisonous world he lives in.

At the start Harry has a heart attack and dies having a harrowing death experience. He's revived but everything is different after his glimpse of hell. He sees the ugliness he once refused to see in everything around him, his untrue wife, his slut daughter and his nasty son, his ugly business affairs and the cancer that his company's products cause. He has a drunken night with a business collegue who insists on sending out for hookers. Honey Barbara, a simple hippyish girl who lives on honey, may be in poverty forced into turning tricks but she's no whore. Harry knows Honey Barbara is his real true love yet he blows it. Until he plants the honey bearing trees that will flower in seven years.

Highly entertaining, disturbingly surreal at times, gentle and poetic at others, this Australian film was a critical success when it was released in 1985 but has been nearly forgotten in the last few years.

The ending is lovely and unforgettable. Bliss really deserves to be seen. Go to Amazon, buy a used copy if you must. Really a great movie!

This is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Harry Joy experiences so many different things throughout the course of the movie. Although it starts out rather negatively (having a heart attack on one's birthday(!), bizarre and/or unacceptable behavior by one's friends and family, etc.) I felt uplifted by the end.
I bought it on videotape in the late 80's, but hope that one day I can own it on dvd.
If you can find it, watch it!

"Bliss" tells the story of Harry Joy, a businessman who has a heart attack, is dead for a few minutes, and then returns to find his entire life has changed. No longer is he happy and content, Harry comes to believe himself in Hell. His saviour is Honey Barbara, panthiest, healer, whore. Through many mistakes and misconceptions, finally Harry achieves redemption.

The screenplay was written by Peter Carey, the author of the book on which this film is based. The pacing is very deliberate, there is surrealism, mild nudity, and sexual content. Not for those with short attention spans (no explosions!), nor the easily offended.

Amazon is listing the DVD for this movie as being discontinued from by the manufacturer.

How can something that was never made be discontinued (Region 1)???

This is an awesome movie....how could anyone in their right mind not know that there is a large audience just waiting for it to be released in a modern format????

I wonder what's behind this particular movie never having been released on DVD in the US? I refuse to buy a used VHS copy of the this movie because I want my first viewing after 20 years to be in glorious widescreen DVD with good sound. So I'm waiting. And waiting. And waiting. ZZZZZZZZZZ