Quite possibly the greatest movie I have ever seen.

Freedomisanillusion

Of all the films I've seen in my sixteen sweet years of existence, none have struck such a chord with me as Bound has.

I'd heard of it before in relation to the Wachowski Brothers, but also due to it being one of Christopher Meloni's first film roles. I searched high and low for it, and found it in my video store, much to my delight.

Gina Gershon is Corky. Corky has short hair and an attitude, with tattoos that are displayed marvellously by her Singlet tops, or covered by her leather jacket. Factor all these things in with the fact that it's a woman, and you come to one obvious conclusion: Corky is a lesbian. She doesn't do much to hide this fact, nor should she need to.

The film opens with a brilliantly filmed single-take of a closet. We descend down into it, passing the clothes on the racks to the shoes on the shelf, down to Corky's unconscious, bound and gagged body.

We then flash back to the beginning of the story.

Jennifer Tilly is Violet, the woman that Corky so generously holds the elevator door open for. She enters the elevator with Corky, closely followed by Joe Pantoliano, who is Caesar. Caesar is Violet's semi-mobster boyfriend. He works for the mob, but merely stands around watching the dirty work be down by the real mobsters.

Corky is moving into the apartment next door to Violet, renovating it as her first job on the outside. She has just served a five year prison sentence. The chemistry between Violet and Corky is instantaneous and electric.

As Violet leaves the elevator, Corky watches her walk down the hall, and it seems as though violet is walking in such a provocative way quite on purpose.

Before long, Violet has either seduced or been seduced by Corky, depending on how you look at it, and the two have an incredibly strong bond.

After being home when a man she has always liked is sadistically tortured and murdered in her bathroom by the mob (including Caesar), Violet decides she wants out of this life.

She goes to Corky with the proposition of stealing the (upwards of) 2 million dollars that the mob has obtained, and Caesar is keeping for safe keeping, all the time pinning the blame on someone else.

Christopher Meloni is Johnnie Marzonne, son of the mob boss, and rival of Caesar. Johnnie flirts endlessly with Violet, much to Caesar's chagrin, so he seems an obvious choice to pin the blame on.

Of course, such a brilliant plan must go wrong somehow, and the two women must deal with the kinks in their scheme.

' To tell you anymore would be to ruin the film, something I will never intentionally do. Needless to say, I loved this movie.

The plot is intricate and so very clever, and the acting is superb. Gina Gershon exudes copious amounts of sex appeal, while Jennifer Tilly is pitch perfect as Violet, the girl who's not anywhere near as ditzy as they thought.

Joe Pantoliano is also good, acting out the swings from ultra panic to blind rage with tremendous ability.

Christopher Meloni (who I find it hard to say a bad word about anyway) is also great as Johnnie: playing the half-wit son of the mob boss without making it a clichéd caricature.

The Wachowski Brothers pay a tremendous amount of attention to detail, and I wonder just how long they spent planning each shot of the film. It's a beautifully filmed piece of art.

Of course, the film relies heavily on the relationship between Corky and Violet, and I've heard a lot of ridicule form people despising the (rather explicit) lesbian sex scenes.

As a sixteen-year-old, I honestly can't complain about the sex scenes, but in all honesty: they are completely pivotal to the story. The film would not have worked the same way as if Violet had been attracted to a man, or vice versa.

As Bound finished, I found myself utterly and completely satisfied. An intricately woven, edge-of-your-seat thriller with lavish production design, and moments of genuine humour.

The only thing I can complain about is that the film has not made it onto DVD in Australia. But I will be buying it the second it does.

Utterly and completely 10 out of 10.

Rated R18  for Medium Level Violence, Medium Level Sex Scenes.

score 10/10

Freedomisanillusion 24 April 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1066782/