Connect with us
Bound 1996 movie review
Image via Gramercy Pictures

Film

It’s not where you’ve been… it’s where you’re Bound

Tough ex-con Corky and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet’s crooked boyfriend Caesar.

Bound at 25!

Bound is a perfect distillation of 90’s cinema, a bygone era when indie filmmakers and screenwriters, clamoring to capture the cinematic zeitgeist, found themselves backed into corners and forced to write their way out.

The Wachowski siblings cut their legacy with 1999’s The Matrix and will probably be known for that film until movies cease to exist. It’s a fair legacy to have, one which any filmmaker would gladly wish for. But Bound, in its taut screenplay and tight stylistic flourishes, seems a greater representation of their skill, exhibiting a fondness for dirty noir atmosphere and fetishized technology that the first Matrix reveled in and that was missing from the latter two movies.

In the cramped corners of a Chicago apartment complex, lesbian ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) renovates the dwelling next door to Violet (Jennifer Tilly), arm candy to gangster Caesar (Joe Pantoliano). When Violet invites Corky over to her place to fix a leak, her seductive intentions toward her couldn’t be more forward.  An intense sexual relationship develops and soon a plan is hatched to nab the $2 million Caesar is holding for his boss.

Bound: Lesbians in the labyrinth

As the scheming pair, Tilly and Gershon vibrate with raw sexual energy. Tilly smolders with her breathy voice, feline features, and hourglass shape, and absolutely archetypal vision of a gangster’s moll. Gershon’s devil-may-care attitude, soulful eyes, and offbeat smile suit Corky’s resourceful adaptability. It’s a credit to the actress that she has difficulty inviting vulnerability to a guarded con that has been burned by a partnership before and is wary of another one built on the untested waters of trust.

The Wachowski’s establish the set design like a rat trap, a perfect noir maze for its two heroines, who operate between the two apartments through telephone lines and thin walls. Bill Pope’s cinematography paints the ladies in soft light, at one point highlighting their pale faces in a single strip of sidelight, and in one great close-up, leaving just their mouths in the frame as they edge dangerously close. A forced perspective shot of the barrel of a gun next to a tumbler of alcohol and other touches like the redial button on the phone, a blood-soaked carpet, and the stacked bodies in a bathtub illustrate the deft sense of space and time that the filmmakers are able to operate in.

Bound film review

Image via Gramercy Pictures

At the center of the film is Pantoliano, who sweats and fidgets his way through Caesar’s ordeal as a man in the unenviable position to play his cards right and advance or fold too early and lose it all. His character’s resourcefulness at staying alive facilitates the situational irony of the script, which only intensifies the dramatic irony for the audience.

Outside of pulpy eroticism, the lesbian angle provides new dimensions to its heist that a heterosexual relationship would either solve or exacerbate, namely the gender dynamics of trust and crime. Is Violet’s lipstick lesbian act a rouse to make out with the money herself or has her subservience to a mob relationship truly pushed her over the limit? By thriller standards, two women equal twice the vulnerability, thus twice the danger. Bound plays off of those odds and cleverly finds a way to buck the trend. There certainly is twice the danger. But this time, not for the women.

-Shane Ramirez

Now Streaming

Written By

Shane Ramirez is a professional actor and videographer, as well as a budding filmmaker and novelist residing in San Marcos, TX. A life-long film enthusiast, Shane has written for everyonesacritic.net and examiner.com, and has produced his own short films. He is versed in the arts of cinematography, photography, and editing. His favorite directors are Andrei Tarkovsky, Terrence Malick, Christopher Nolan, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

Warfare review: Joseph Quinn and Will Poulter suffer the horrors of combat — but to what end?

Film

Locked Review: The Bill Skarsgard Trapped In A Car Movie Is Weirdly Relatable Right Now

Film

‘Bob Trevino Likes It’ Review: Found Family Ties, Emotional Honesty, Great Acting

Film

IShowSpeed Brings Chaos And Star Power To DICK’S Sporting Goods

Celebrity

Dawn Robinson Blasts Jermaine Dupri For Criticizing Her Living Conditions

Celebrity

Grimes shares autism and ADHD diagnosis, reflects on childhood learning struggles

Celebrity

‘Black Bag’ Review: Love as a Spy Game

Film

Summer Walker Channels Marvin Sapp After Chris Brown Announces More Breezy Bowl XX Dates

Celebrity

Doctor Who Season 2 Trailer Teases The Doctor Getting (Literally) Animated

Film

Snow White Review: The Latest Disney Remake Is Better Than Expected But Still Pretty Dopey

Film

The White Lotus Creator Mike White Responds To Composer’s Controversial Exit

Celebrity

Jess Hilarious & Loren LoRosa Settle Their “Breakfast Club” Differences In Gut-Busting Skit

Celebrity

Billie Eilish and Finneas Join Jason Owen’s Sandbox Management

Celebrity

Eminem Officially Becomes A Grandpa As Daughter Hailie Jade Welcomes First Child

Celebrity

This Cancelled Minecraft Movie Concept Art Looks Better Than What We Got

Film

Bill Murray Says There’s One Director He Wishes He Had Worked With: ‘It’s One of the Few Regrets I Have’

Celebrity

Connect