3rd SSFA 2012 - Review of Bliss (Nominee)
Bliss – Liang Xuan
Bliss
is Liang Xuan’s first film. A photographer turned filimmaker, it is no wonder
this short was nominated for the running to win the Best Cinematographer award
in this year’s SSFA. The cinematography is gorgeous to watch.
I
particularly liked the use of lighting in the short. For example, the dimming
glow of orange light in the house was used when telling the story of Nick’s
mother’s degeneration into suicide. While at present day, the light used was
bright and well-lit, possibly telling of Nick’s maturity and reconciliation of
the darkness of his past.
Young Nick (Dark dim light)
There
are several beautiful passages in the short, however, I felt that it also
became a little lost in the journey in telling how Nick struggled to sell the
house he grew up in.
Along
the way, the protagonist became merely a mouthpiece, a narrative to drive the
storytelling of the frustration, the sadness and the eventual self-destruction
of Nick’s mother. It was indulging in
portraying the spiraling destruction of the mother, rather than showing why
Nick was unwilling to sell the house away. There were too many scenes of Nick’s
mother snorting drugs and smoking, without the resistance of the young Nick
coming in to stop her other than one scene later nearing the end of the short.
It
was a fantastic first attempt at Liang Xuan, but would be better with a tighter storyline. The cinematography though, is undoubtedly lush and gorgeous.