16.3 The Wachowski's first feature film

The Wachowski's first feature film

Frank Miller's Sin City Graphic Novel

Written and directed by the Wachowski's with cinematography by Bill Pope (The Matrix, Baby Driver, Team America: World Police, Clueless, Army of Darkness). In their debut film the Wachowski's wanted to play with stereotypes (genre, gender, etc.) and make an entertaining film that contained sex and violence because those are the kind of films they like to watch. Several studio executives promised the funds to produce the film if the character of Corky was a man. The Wachowski's refused, as this had already been done (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, etc.).

A lesbian relationship that once seemed like the hook for a showy modern noir now seems like the inverse - a showy noir that traffics in a substantive, empowering look at two women trying to negotiate a man's world.

VIOLET (Jennifer Tilly): prostitute, Caesar's girlfriend, femme fatale? Her voice is high-pitched when around men, around Corky it becomes more natural.

CAESAR: (Joe Pantoliano) Money launderer for the mafia.

CORKY: (Gina Gershon) Ambiguous name, butch lesbian who has served time in prison

COLOR SCHEME: elimination of colors that aren't black, white or red

The film utilizes non-linear storytelling which becomes a trend at the end of the decade in films such as Memento (2000), Pi (1998) and others. Influences on the tone and style include Frank Miller's neo-noir Sin City comic series and Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity).

Consider the multiple meanings of the title BOUND.

The Wachowski's hired "sexpert" Susie Bright (Links to an external site.) to choreograph the  lesbian sex scenes and shun triggers of male-gaze focused softcore lesbianism. This was HUGE in 1996. The motivation of the sex scene is the female character's pleasure, NOT the audience's - this shift is significant, and still rare. Especially  for LGBTQ characters. Effectively this film evades the "bury your gays" trope (Links to an external site.).

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