Bound (1996)

Movies don’t get much cooler than Bound. I consider it an unofficial prequel to 1999’s The Matrix, the film that launched a franchise and catapulted The Wachowski Brothers into the upper stratosphere of filmmaking. The stories aren’t linked at all, but it’s the visual style and overall aesthetics that let the bell toll for the later innovations of bullet time and leather clad martial artists. With Bound, The Wachowski Brothers exhibit a knack for making films that are sexy, filled with unique vision, and incalculably cool.

Gina Gershon (in her most memorable role to date) plays the anti-hero Corky, a just-released convict in need of fast cash and faster women. After landing a painting and plumbing gig, she meets her neighbor, Violet (the inimitable Jennifer Tilly), a bored and lonely bombshell with a hot-tempered Mafioso boyfriend, Ceasar (Joe Pantoliano in a chilling performance). Corky and Violet begin a torrid affair, and the stakes are raised when they plot a heist that’ll line their pockets with the Mob’s money but make Ceasar look like the culprit. However, one false move will throw their master plan into disarray and leave them at Ceasar’s mercy (or what little there is of it).

It’s Dashiell Hammett meets The L Word. And while that sounds potentially disastrous, The Wachowski’s excellent screenplay, masterful direction, and Zach Staenberg’s editing make this one of the real gems of the indie explosion of the late 1990’s. The Wachowskis found a way to take a standard, carbon copy storyline from film noir and infuse it with originality and sexiness, giving audiences a bold film showcasing homosexual protagonists. But the caper story is so intriguing that we barely even think or care about sexual orientation and the role it plays in the film. Remember the key scene in Hitchcock’s Notorious? During Corky and Violet’s execution of the plan, every moment brims with the same raw intensity felt between Bergman and Rains.

The acting does hit a few bad notes, particularly from Tilly. She plays the sexpot role extremely well, but her voice gets irritating after multiple viewings, and she seems to be reading off of cue cards when first inviting Corky into her place. Pantoliano is the shining piece of the cast, portraying Caesar as an intelligent-but-combustible (especially where Violet is concerned) captain in the Marzzone Crime Syndicate. I also found Christopher Meloni’s performance as Mafia brat Johnnie Marzzone amusing. Gina Gershon deserves much of the credit for this film’s notoriety. Despite being an unlikely choice as a leading lady, she plays Corky to near perfection and carries this film with a performance composed of slick attitude, beauty, and toughness–all traits synonymous with the film itself.

Bound is a great watch. Would it still be as great with a man and woman rather than two lesbians in the lead? Probably not. The plot and caper are suspenseful, but it’s the exposition that allows us to decide whether or not to keep watching. With Corky and Violet, you have an unlikely pair of lovers in a situation that’s a staple of film noir cinema. Thus, by removing the lesbianism, you’re left without anything we haven’t seen before. And that’s what cinema is all about–pushing the envelope and taking us to places or meeting people we’ll never encounter in our daily lives. That’s why we’re lucky to have filmmakers like The Wachowski Brothers, who strive to “see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

If you haven’t seen it…DO!