Bound
1996 Directed by Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Synopsis
In their world, you can't buy freedom, but you can steal it.
Corky, a tough female ex con and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend Caeser.
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Film#28 of 'It's June Jim, but not as we know it'
There is one thing (trust me, only one) I love about this June challenge insanity and it's the no rewatch rule. It has forced me to browse through my various watchlists and finally get round to watching some of them.
My eye fell on Bound, the Wachowski Brothers' (can I still say that?) first film. And boy am I glad that happened.
This neo-noir thriller is just a slice of perfectly paced cinematic storytelling. It takes all the classic noir elements, shakes them up a bit and chucks them into a claustrophobic setting, creating some truly tense and unexpected moments.
It is shot with a visual panache we've come…
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A great 90's gangster film. I wish they made more films like this today. Simple but very cool.
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This is good, intelligent filmmaking. And hot. This is good, intelligent hot filmmaking.
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Crime is a genre of film that I've always had a great fondness for, and my love for it is only bettered by the force of horror. Crime films are extraordinary pieces of film-making; they excel on their creative premises, edge-of-your-seat intensity and usually feature a suave, slick blend of cinematography and a wonderful use of sound. Films like Hitchcock’s Rope, Scorsese’s The King of Comedy and Mann’s Thief are three prime examples of films that manage and cater for all aspects of a crime films, but all in their own unique style.
1996’s Bound features Violet, played by the seductress Jennifer Tilly, who unites with ex-con Corky, depicted by Gina Gershon. The two, after a series of “steamy” scenes…
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This isn't the first time a movie I've seen has taken its punny title to the extreme. The moment I saw the working girl tied up in a closet—in media res without me knowing it—I knew I was tensely engaged to this thrilling neo-noir.
Bound is bound to its character interactions and how they reflect earlier noirs and contemporary relationships, and that becomes a double-edged sword half-way through the film. I understand that the lesbian dynamic is essential to this update of the Double Indemnity scenario, but it feels half-baked and repetitious. There's no good reason for each intense, highly intimate moment between Violet and Corky to follow the next, as if these sequences were simply disposable. I don't like…
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Ultra-stylish, erotic, intensely shot and unfathomably under-appreciated. At its time, Bound gained rather favourable reviews, but it seems to have been nearly dismissed almost seventeen years later. That was mostly due to the genuine pop culture phenomenon of The Matrix. People tend to forget about a franchising director's first film - the same thing happened with Lucas and American Graffiti. Anyway, Bound is far, far more than just a soft-core lesbian skin flick. That aspect turns me on, but the finger-biting thrills are equally delicious as they are tough to handle. This film is like a case study in getting the most mileage out of a very simple storyline. We've seen all of this done before - a modern-day film…
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Film#28 of 'It's June Jim, but not as we know it'
There is one thing (trust me, only one) I love about this June challenge insanity and it's the no rewatch rule. It has forced me to browse through my various watchlists and finally get round to watching some of them.
My eye fell on Bound, the Wachowski Brothers' (can I still say that?) first film. And boy am I glad that happened.
This neo-noir thriller is just a slice of perfectly paced cinematic storytelling. It takes all the classic noir elements, shakes them up a bit and chucks them into a claustrophobic setting, creating some truly tense and unexpected moments.
It is shot with a visual panache we've come…
-
Wachowski siblings' (at one time infamous) first film has turned out to be one of the key films of the 90's. It is a small scale neo-noir that pays off big. "Bound" is still their best film. A shame that they have devoted the rest of their career to inhuman CGI monstrosities.
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The Wachowshi’s present their specific style in this well-shot erotic neo-noir with a lesbian twist.
The low budget of the film means that the settings are sparse and that it is entirely character driven. This is helped by the strong performances of an intense Joe Pantoliano, Jennifer Tilly’s sultry voice, and a butch Gina Gershon.
The lesbian duo concocts a scheme to escape together, however this quickly becomes complicated and spirals out of control. This all occurs in a believable manner and never seems overly contrived.
The Reverence: A telephone reveal beats out gay bars full of leather, and a finger scene reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs.
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Once you get past the lesbian sexploitation scenes at the start it's a pretty exciting, small scale crime thriller. Lots of good twists and turns, tense, even some seeds of the Wachowski's visual flair. Fun movie. While I mentioned the sexploitation earlier what I mean is besides a couple of overly steamy sex scenes the relationship between the two is pretty great and the lesbian angle is played as a real relationship between the two and not just an excuse for hot chicks making out.
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It's more than a (psycho)logical plot movie. 'Cause it has an unique mixture of emotional and thrilling attitude! I like :)
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This isn't the first time a movie I've seen has taken its punny title to the extreme. The moment I saw the working girl tied up in a closet—in media res without me knowing it—I knew I was tensely engaged to this thrilling neo-noir.
Bound is bound to its character interactions and how they reflect earlier noirs and contemporary relationships, and that becomes a double-edged sword half-way through the film. I understand that the lesbian dynamic is essential to this update of the Double Indemnity scenario, but it feels half-baked and repetitious. There's no good reason for each intense, highly intimate moment between Violet and Corky to follow the next, as if these sequences were simply disposable. I don't like…
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Stylish if a bit thin neo-noir that suggests the Wachowskis could have had a better filmography had they thought small a bit more.
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Crime is a genre of film that I've always had a great fondness for, and my love for it is only bettered by the force of horror. Crime films are extraordinary pieces of film-making; they excel on their creative premises, edge-of-your-seat intensity and usually feature a suave, slick blend of cinematography and a wonderful use of sound. Films like Hitchcock’s Rope, Scorsese’s The King of Comedy and Mann’s Thief are three prime examples of films that manage and cater for all aspects of a crime films, but all in their own unique style.
1996’s Bound features Violet, played by the seductress Jennifer Tilly, who unites with ex-con Corky, depicted by Gina Gershon. The two, after a series of “steamy” scenes…
-
This movie completely blew me away. I cannot believe how great it is. I love small thrillers from the nineties, and this might be the best one. The camera work alone is enough to know that the Wachowskis are something special. The tension they build and the simple ways they play with structure is masterful. I can't even put into words how much I love this film. I'd put it up there with just about anything the Coen Brothers have ever done.