BOUND (R)
Directors: Andy and Larry Wachowski
Stars: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John P Ryan,
Christopher Meloni, Richard Sarafian
Running Time: 108 minutes.
The incredibly tense and erotic tale of two crims in love.
Film making siblings Andy and Larry Wachowski previously scripted the Sylvester Stallone action thriller Assassins, in which
they brought a few new touches to a rather tired genre formula. The pair add some unconventional touches of gender
confusion and undercurrents of kinky sex to the traditional film noir genre with this incredibly tense, brutal and erotically
charged thriller about two female crims who plan to rob the Mafia of $2 million in laundered money. However, the most
unusual element of this defiantly unconventional, steamy and stylish heist thriller is the lesbian relationship that quickly develops
between the two central female characters.
Corky (the delectable Gina Gershon, from Showgirls) is a tattooed and leather clad tough ex-con recently released from
prison, who is hired to redecorate a mobster's vacant apartment. In the apartment next door are Ceasar (Joe Pantoliano, from
The Fugitive, etc), a volatile, temperamental and sleazy enforcer for the Chicago mob, and his sexy girlfriend Viola (the husky
voiced Jennifer Tilly, from Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, etc). Viola is shrewd, sharp and far tougher than she
seems, and tired of Ceasar's moods, she quickly sets about seducing Corky. After some mutually satisfying sex, the pair hatch
a plan to rob Ceasar of a fortune in embezzled mob money leaving him to take the fall. But the seemingly simple and straight
forward plan quickly starts to go wrong as Ceasar refuses to follow their scenario. As events spiral out of control, the three
characters become unsure of exactly where loyalties lie and whom they can trust.
With most of the action taking place inside Ceasar's tackily decorated luxury apartment, Bound becomes incredibly
claustrophobic and increasingly unsettling in tone. The dialogue is terse and cleverly written and the violence is quite brutal and
shattering in its impact, and an early torture scene will have audiences twisting uncomfortably in their seat. Making their joint
directorial debut here, the Wachowski brothers bring some idiosyncratic touches and stylish visual flourishes to the material
through unusual camera angles and close ups that also effectively disorient the audience and keep them slightly off balance right
up until the wonderful and enormously satisfying conclusion. Not since Shallow Grave has a suitcase full of money generated
so much tension and knuckle-biting suspense.
The trio of central performances are great, and capture perfectly the dark pitch of the material. Gershon has a tough and strong
presence as Corky, and uses her cocky attitude and sexy pout to great effect throughout. Tilly is also superb, with a nicely
judged mix of naive ingenue and keen intelligence that keeps both Ceasar and Corky off balance, unsure of how far she can be
trusted. Pantoliano makes the most of his role as the hapless Ceasar who slowly loses control of the situation, and he brings an
intensity and volatile energy to his performance.
Bound is tacky and quite brutal in places, but this defiantly unusual thriller is also suspenseful, intriguing and sexy stuff without
seeming exploitive or cheaply sensational.