NAKALULUNGKOT naman kung hindi na maipapalabas ang pelikulang Bliss na pagbibidahan ni Iza Calzado mula sa direksiyon ni Jerrold Tarog produced ng Tuko Film Production, Buchi Boy Entertainment at Articulo Uno Productions (TBA).

Binigyan ito ng X-rating ng Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

Ang pelikulang ito ang nagbigay ng unang international best actress award (Yakushi Pearl Award) kay Iza sa katatapos na 2017 Osaka Film Festival nitong Marso 11.

Kahapon, nag-post ang manager ni Iza na si Noel Ferrer sa Facebook ng, “THIS JUST IN: Bliss (the new film of award-winning director Jerrold Tarog after Heneral Luna - which won for Miss Iza Calzado the Best Performer Award) just got a X rating from the MTRCB. It will be so unfortunate and such a waste if a film that earned rave reviews and international honors in the Osaka Asian Festival won’t be allowed to be screened to the Filipinos in its integral version. *** Time to unite dear filmmakers and film audiences. We have to experience Bliss in the Philippines.

#BLISS#RatedXbytheMTRCB #FilmmakersandAudiencesUnite.”

Ayon naman kay MTRCB Chairperson Rachel Arenas, binigyan ng dalawang X rating at R-18 ng tatlong board members na nag-review ang pelikula at ang mga dahilan daw ay dahil sa explicit nudity at gory o masyadong bayolenteng mga eksena, kaya unfit daw ito for public exhibition.

Nabanggit din ni Ms. Arenas kay TV Patrol/Bandila correspondent MJ Felipe na aapela raw ang producers ng Bliss tungkol sa classification at muli raw pag-aaralan ito ng board members.

Samantala, naglabas naman ng sama ng loob si Iza nang humarap sa mini-presscon na ipinatawag para sa pagbabalik niya sa seryeng A Love To Last nitong nakaraang Miyerkules ng gabi.

“Porn star ba ako? Alam ko, sabi best performer, but hindi naman in that sense,” pabirong sabi ng ni Iza. “I understand where they’re (MTRCB) coming from because there is nudity, there is violence, there is blood, there is cursing, there’s all of that.”

Aniya pa, bakit naman daw ang foreign movies na may kaparehong mga tema, pinapayagang ipalabas – tulad halimbawa ng Fifty Shares of Grey.

“I saw it here. Why was it shown? It tackles only love and S&M (sadomasochism). Our film, I would like to think, tackles more than that, and it tackles abuse in society. Not just being an artista, it’s supposed to wake you up to what people go through, the cycle of abuse that people go through in their lives.

“So these images we will show you are not intended to arouse you. They are intended to disturb you and question things, it’s supposed to make you think. I also wonder, does it not even merit R-18 man lang? Kasi iniisip ko, kung X agad, are you saying that our Filipino 18-year-olds will go to the cinema and will not be able to comprehend that this is not something that I should do? Have we not educated them enough to think this way, as an 18-year-old, who is a responsible adult? ‘Yon lang, that’s just my take on it,” she said.

“I totally understand where they are coming from,” said Iza. “However, I would like to understand more, and perhaps we can meet in the middle, if not, di ba (right), somewhere there. Let’s not say naman na X agad (that it should be given a X immediately) or this film cannot be shown. We would like our film to be shown and it deserves to be shown.

It’s not a feel good film ha... but you’ll leave the theater thinking about things,” she said.

Mukhang mahaba-habang usapan pa ang mangyayari sa MTRCB at sa producers ng Bliss kasama na si Iza. (REGGEE BONOAN)