Bound

Director:Andy and Larry Wachowski
Screenplay:The Wachowski Brothers
Starring:Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano John's Review

When I first set out to rent and watch Bound I had no preconceptions and no idea of the story. I was pleasantly surprised. Not beacuse it was a lesbian story, with a sex scene, but it was just a nice change of pace from many of the films that come out of Hollywood these days. The Wachowski brothers, who wrote and directed the film, almost remind me of the Cohen Brothers, with their nack for throwing in twists and turns into an already interesting story.

Basically Gershon plays an ex-con lesbian (Corky) who is hired to fix up an apartment. Next door lives Joe Pantoliano, who is a Mob launderer (Ceaser), and his girlfriend played by Jennifer Tilly (Violet). Jennifer it seems is a bi-sexual who has an interest in Gershon. She invites her over and they get to know each other, so to speak. There is of course the obligatory sex scene (done tastefully), then Violet decides she is tired of Ceaser and wants to get out, but first she wants to get 2 million dollars from him. She goes to Corky who formulates a plan and from here the movie gets very interesting.

The plot takes a bunch of unexpected turns and twists, with the outcome being most surprising. I wouldn't call this a drama or even a thriller, although it would probably fall into both. It very much reminds me, as I've mentioned before of a Cohen brothers film. Actually if I hadn't known any better I would have thought it one of their pieces of work.

I do recommend this story for just about anyone who loves a good suspenseful, somewhat erotic perhaps thrilling sort of mob mystery drama. There's a mouth full. I do not recommend this to anyone who is old fashioned and finds homosexuality offensive. On the other hand it's not an adult movie. The acting is far above par for a lower budget movie, even Tilly seems to be acting, not as a bimbo but as a calculating intelligent woman. I did enjoy this film quite a bit, the reason for the B+ and not the A is because I cannot recommend it for everyone.

Grade: B+

Werner's Review

Now this is the type of movie that VCR's were meant for. This movie did not do well in the theaters. In fact I don't think it lasted more that 2 weeks. However, on tape, Bound gets a new lease on life and let me tell you I am glad that it did.

The Plot: Lesbian ex-con (Gershon) gets seduced by bisexual mob girlfriend (Tilly). Tilly wants out of the mob and talks Gershon into helping her steal $2 million dollars from Tilly's money laundering mob boyfriend (Pantoliano) in such a way that the 2 will never be suspected of having stolen the money in the first place. The movie shows how what looked like a simple robbery goes all wrong and how the 2 women attempt to get things back on track again.

The Good:

This movie was fun to watch especially on TV. The plot was very tight and well thought out and executed. Things made sense in this movie and everything moved along at a nice pace so that it never really seemed to slow down. The acting was superb. Pantoliano is such a fun actor to watch. He really gets into his roles and starts to run away with them. Gershon played her character well by making her act more like a man than a woman. (My guess is that this is her take on what a lesbian ex-con would act like.) The real suprise of the movie was Tilly who broke away from her normal squeeky voiced, bimbo persona by turning her character into an intelligent, calculating woman who used her feminity to get what she wanted. This movie was such a breath of fresh air considering how Hollywood seems to be in funk with the movies that they are making as of late.

The Bad:

Just because we have lesbians in a movie does not mean that we need an obligatory love making scene between the two of them. However, I will give the director credit. He did the sexual scenes between Gershon and Tilly with a lot of taste and he did them early on in the movie (first 30 minutes I think) so that they did not wind up dominating the movie.

Overall, I highly recommend renting this movie to anyone who wants to watch a good film. I think that you will be as impressed with it as I was after you have watched it. Now, if only mainstream Hollywood could make movies as good as this....

Grade: B+
 
 

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