Wonkette Movie Night: Bound
We make our own choices, we pay our own prices.
The word bound has 7 definitions according to Merriam-Webster. The two women at the heart of this film seem to experience at least 5 of them.
Confined; obliged; determined; to leap; or to set a boundary.
This movie centered on two women and their love affair was directed by the Wachowskis, two transgender women (Lana came out as transgender in 2012, Lilly in 2016.) A sexy film noir that could have been just another presentation of lesbians for the male gaze. Lesbians have frequently had their sexiness stolen and this movie gave it back.
Ask any queer woman and most will tell you that at some point in their life a man told them that all they needed was a proper fucking by the right guy and they’d forget all that liking women nonsense. Men didn’t like being excluded, being told you are not needed. Corky and Lilly, (Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly) prove that point when they really piss off some of the men in this film.
When Violet is confronted about her relationship with Corky by her boyfriend Caesar she makes the point very clear.
Caesar: What did she do to you?
Violet: Everything you couldn’t.
The movie Bound allowed lesbians to reclaim their sexiness on their own terms. But what it also did was give us a film with lesbian characters whose roles were not defined by their queerness. This is also a crime thriller involving gangsters, murder, money and a plan of deception. Corky and Violet may get hot and heavy but they also may pull off a master deception that makes them very rich.
Bound is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and the cast and directors came together at the Tribeca Film Festival. Their discussion revealed that Gina Gershon’s agents cancelled her contract over the film.
"They said, 'We can't represent you,'" Gershon said. "So I said, 'OK, bye.' And I left!"
The Wachowskis expressed how important the movie was in exploring their own changing self awareness. Lilly explained,
“We wrote Bound because we were going through some things and had a lot to figure out,” she remembered. “We wanted to make a film with two strong women characters, and the fact that they were queer was a foreshadowing. That Matrix stuff just came along later.”
But unlike Gina’s agents, Joe Pantoliano’s agents were thrilled and got him the contract, Joe was excited to work with two directors,
“I said, ‘I’ve never worked with two directors before. What’s it going to be like?’ And Lilly said, ‘Listen to me.’ And Lana said, ‘No, listen to me.’ I knew I was in good hands!”
Bound is a film that can be enjoyed by everyone (except I’m guessing some Republicans watch it in the closet, how appropriate) while celebrating its groundbreaking nature. We can also get turned on watching Corky and Violet kiss while sitting on the edge our seats waiting for the next twist in this thriller.
Bound stars Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John P. Ryan, Christopher Meloni, Richard C. Sarafian, Mary Mara, and Susie Bright. Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski.
Bound is available for free with ads on Pluto TV; $3.99 in the usual places.
To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.
The animated short is Best For You by Bailey Martin and Emma Mckay.
Next week’s Movie Night selection is Grandma, free with ads on Tubi. $3.99 in the usual places.
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𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀:
In a 2014 interview for Vulture, Jennifer Tilly talked about the sex and nudity in this film, and how filming a sex scene and being naked with another woman was less stressful than with a man. "Actors are always saying, 'Oh, sex scenes are so technical. Everyone's standing around and watching.' It is technical, but there is something about being naked with a member of the opposite sex that you still want them to think that you're hot. There's a reason why people are always having affairs with their leading men. With Gina it was really relaxing, because you could say things to her that you wouldn't say to other people. Like, 'Can you put your hand on my thigh here so my butt doesn't look so big? Can you hold my breast up so it looks more plump and juicy?' You would never, ever say those things to a man. Between takes, I would say, 'Gina, there's a shoe sale at Barneys. If we finish early, we should go over to Barneys and shop for shoes!' So it was surprisingly unsexy, but then when you saw it on screen, I was blown away.
Violet and Corky have chemistry. They have it in buckets." She then added "We were a little bit worried because Dino De Laurentiis was a producer, and we were worried that after we finished shooting the scene, they would send it off to Italy and insert some breasts and buttocks shots.
The Wachowskis said that was a concern of theirs, too, so they decided to shoot that love scene in one long, continuous shot. They said, 'That way he can't cut into it without it looking really obvious and intrusive. So the day we were supposed to shoot the love scene, it was a closed set. But there were monitors in the hallway, and everybody was clustered around the monitors watching. So the Wachowskis put the camera on a crane, and there were all these elements that they wanted to capture. They wanted to start out on a safe and get the side of my back, and they wanted to pan down to the toes, and they would be yelling through a megaphone, telling us what different parts were onscreen. They would yell, 'Toes!' and Gina would curl her toes like she was about to come. Then they would say, 'Hand!' and my hand was on her crotch, and I would kind of move my fingers a little bit. And then they would say, 'Face!' and it would be on Gina's face, and Gina would 'come.' So it was very, very technical, and we did eight takes."
Christopher Meloni is so sleazy in this.
I met him in person during the filming of the first season of Law & Order: SVU.
He was so nice and signed an autograph and introduced me to Mariska Hargitay so I could get her autograph.