| Bound's
first-time directors Larry and Andy Wachowski (whose previous movie
experience includes the screenplay for Assassins) wanted
to spread their wings and direct, so they wrote themselves an extremely
dark - if formulaic - story about a Mafia henchman who's the proud
owner of two million laundered bucks and a mistress who's much cleverer
than he is. Caesar (Pantoliano) knows she's bright, but doesn't
know that Violet (Tilly) can't be trusted. He's not bright enough
for that.
Caesar and Violet live in one of those over testosterone-style
apartments that Mafia folk inhabit in the movies while they wait
for visitations from the Mob King to drop off or pick up the deal.
Life could have continued with a veneer of normality, but then
Corky (Gershon), an ex-con who has just languished for five years
in prison for 'the redistribution of wealth', moves into the empty
apartment next door. Her new job is to redecorate the place, and
pretty soon we find that she's spying though a hole in the wall
on the luscious Violet and her money-go-round.
About half-way through the film, the gangster lot
get involved and the plot becomes somewhat outlandish, bloody
and mindless, and this ultimately lets down a very enjoyable film.
Women bond, as we know, and bond these women certainly do; mentally,
sexually and criminally. Tilly and Gershon dive with such gusto
into their roles that its pure joy to watch them as they bond
in solidarity and spark with evil humour and sexual frissonery.
A million miles away from being a 'lesbian movie',
this is pure gloss and style in the mainstream tradition (it won
the Jury Prize at Deauville). Fired by an overpowering orchestral
score that perfectly fits the action. Bound is a film
made in the Coen brothers vein - not quite so subtle, but just
as unusual.
|
