Breathless, brilliant thriller

azeemak

Seeing this film for the third time recently, I was amazed that I was STILL gripped towards the end, even though I knew how it ended.  About how many thrillers can that be said?

A few critics (in the UK at least) dismissed this film as a Sapphic exploitation flick, but they could not be more wrong.  The sexual chemistry between Gershon and Tilly is astonishingly potent, but there is only one nude sex scene, which looks to an outsider (ie a straight man) to be a lot more authentic than what you sometimes see in "erotic thrillers" and soft-core made-for-cable movies.  The seduction scene which precedes it is also highly erotic, but both of these scenes are over quite early in the film, and the directors obviously trusted the strength of the story enough not to have to throw more sex scenes in later.

And they were right: the plot is a doozy, constantly keeping us guessing, mainly thanks to the mercurial Caesar (another treasurable performance from Joe Pantoliano), who like Violet is a bit smarter than he seems.  For much of the film he is perched on the brink of hysteria, but every now and then his vision clears and he thinks he can see a way out.  Only a really good actor could bring this off and make it believable, and almost evoke our sympathy.

The screenplay is unbelievably good, tight as a drum, and with no holes that I could see.  The twists and turns never seemed contrived, most of them arising out of the characters and the relationships between them.  For example, a crucial plank in Corky's plan involves exploiting the hatred between Caesar and Johnny Marzzano, which has previously been shown.  And Mickey's tender feelings towards Violet, very subtly hinted at, help to explain his credulity at the end of the film (not to give it away).  I honestly reckon the screenplay deserved a written-for-the-screen Oscar nomination at least.

Structurally, too, the film is very strong.  While there is nothing new about cutting the chronology around to make the film non-linear, the W brothers do this just enough to keep it fresh.  In particular, the opening shot is pretty daring, including as it does several of the film's key lines played over it, but not in such a way that it would ruin the suspense.

And the two leads?  It's hard to imagine how they could have been better. Jennifer Tilly's breathy voice is an undoubted asset here, and she has the chops to suggest that under the gangster's moll exterior there lies a clever and cunning woman.  Gina Gershon is even better: wry, wary, smart and sexy as hell.  Some of her insolent lines to Caesar as the film's climax approaches are outrageously well-delivered.  She's up there with Catherine Keener and Judy Davis in the sardonic stakes.

Bound has been comprehensively overshadowed by the Matrix, but, as with Paul Thomas Anderson's debut, Hard Eight (aka Sydney), I would like to think that posterity will recognise it as the superior work.  See this film!

score 10/10

azeemak 9 September 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0379523/