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.
