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Released by: Arrow Video
Released on: August, 2014.
Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Cast: Gina Gershon, Jennifer Tilly, Joe Pantoliano, Richard C. Sarafian
Year: 1996
The Movie:
The feature film directorial debut of Andy and Lana (at the time Laurence) Wachowski, 1996's Bound follows the exploits of Corky (Gina Gershon), a hard living tough talking ex-con recently let out of prison who takes a new job as a maintenance person at an apartment building. Here she meets on of the tenants, Violet (Jennifer Tilly) - who lives with her mobster boyfriend Caesar (Joe Pantoliano). The relationship between Violet and Caesar isn't what it used to be and she's more or less over him and his ways. Before you know it, she and Corky are falling for one another pretty hard and having a steamy affair that results in the two putting together a clever plan that will simultaneously get Violet away from Corky and the mafia life she's fallen into and make the two lovely ladies a whole lot of money: scam the two million dollars in cash that Caesar has been asked to stash for mob boss Gino Marzzone (Richard C. Sarafian) and make it look like he made off with it. The catch? Well, Caesar is smarter than the ladies give him credit for.
One of the best modern takes on film noir, Bound is a kick from start to finish. Though much has been made of the film's steamy lesbian sex scenes (and rightly so - they're hard to miss!), there is truthfully quite a bit more to this movie than just the Sapphic coupling of the two lead actresses. The script is very clever, working in all manner of twists and back stabbings throughout its running time to keep you guessing and easily hold your attention while some well played moments of strong but never quite excessive feeling violence are used effectively to jolt us to attention when the film asks for it. What's most amazing about this is that none of the plot devices employed in the movie ever feel contrived or convenient, a testament to the strength of the writing here.
On top of the story we've got three amazing performances to gush over as well. Gina Gershon is great as the tougher (at least on the outside) of the two females in the story. Her ex-con is a hard woman but clever enough to get this ball rolling. Her on screen chemistry with Tilly as the supposedly softer of the two ladies is tense and even palpable at times. Their romance feels passionate and dangerous and while the film may occasionally play up the taboo aspect of the lesbian side of things, the two actresses are rarely less than perfect in their roles. They nail it all here - the looks, the mannerisms, the body language and the dialogue. Also impressive here is Joe Pantoliano who really doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for this picture's success. His Caesar is expected to be set up as the patsy, the script puts everything in place for that to happen but the female characters and in turn the audience underestimate his survival instincts and as such, he's responsible for so much of the tension and surprise that the movie offers up in spades. Pantoliano makes all of this work, he's completely believable in the part and really and truly makes the role his own.
All in all, it's a ridiculously good debut for the Wachowski's. For that reason it's often compared to the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple - the fact that both films are noir inspired probably part of the reason that happens so much - but Bound stands on its own. The Wachowski's would go into very different places as their career progressed and hit new heights after the success of The Matrix movies, and Bound seems almost quiet compared to that trilogy. In many ways, however, it's their strongest effort to date. If it doesn't get the recognition that their bigger Hollywood productions have over the years, that's a shame.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Arrow presents Bound in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and it looks excellent. This is a shadowy film so it's to the disc's credit that the blacks are as strong and deep as they are here. They don't break up or crush and there aren't any obvious compression artifacts to gripe about. Skin tones look dead on, never waxy or too hot, while detail is typically quite strong throughout the film. There's no evidence of any noise reduction or edge enhancement while the image stays crisp and quite clean there's a welcome amount of natural and 'quiet' film grain present in pretty much every frame of the film. This is a great transfer.
Audio options are provided in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 stereo, both in the film's native English. Not surprisingly the 5.1 track spreads out the score and effects as you'd expect it to but the 2.0 track has better depth and range to it for whatever reason. Regardless, both options offer properly balanced levels, clear and easy to follow dialogue and are free of any hiss or distortion. Optional English closed captioning is provided.
The extras on the disc start out with a really solid audio commentary featuring the Wachowskis, cast members Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, and Joe Pantoliano, editor Zach Staenberg, and consultant Susie Bright. This is a very active track with plenty of information that covers the experience of making Bound from both in front of and behind the camera. The Wachowskis talk about their influences, the writing process and getting the movie bankrolled while the cast members share some memories from the shoot and talk up their characters and what it was like to work on this picture together. There's some good humor throughout here but at the same time this is well structured and very informative.
From there we move on to a series of interviews starting with the twenty-seven minute Femme Fatales piece that features Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly (interviewed seperately) to talk about the importance of this film, their experiences as actresses being directed by the Wachowskis, the sexual aspects of their roles and the importance of Marlon Brando. Hail Ceasar! is a thirteen minute interview with Joe Pantoliano who gives us a quick rundown of how he got into acting in the eighties, what it was like on set, working with Tilly and Gershon and quite a bit more. Here's Johnny! is a ten minute interview with Christopher Meloni and again, he goes into quite a bit of detail about his relationship with his fellow cast members, the Wachowskis, the themes of the film and what it was like working on the picture. The last featurettes is Modern Noir: The Sights And Sounds Of Bound which interviews DP Bill Pope, editor Zach Staenberg, and composer Don Davis separately for just short of a half an hour. There's plenty of discussion here of the cinematography employed in the film and the specific look of the picture as well as the music and how it works in conjunction with the visuals and the storyline.
Rounding out the extras are a few theatrical trailers and TV Spots, vintage US and International vintage EPK featurettes, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Bound holds up incredibly well more than fifteen years after it brought the Wachowski's to a certain level of acclaim. It's a twisted and unconventional film that toys with our expectations and offers up a seriously delicious smattering of sex, violence, style and twisted dark humor. The domestic US release from Olive Films looked good but was devoid of any substantial extras. Arrow's release corrects that, making this the one to own.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
