#the Wachowski Sisters

[datasoong47]

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[seizethegay420]

Who was going to tell me that the matrix was directed by two trans sisters that also directed one of the most badass lesbian films I've ever seen

[moviemosaics]

Bound

directed by The Wachowskis, 1996

[nine-frames]

"Go, Speed Racer, go."

Speed Racer, 2008.

Dir. & Writ. The Wachowskis (based on the manga by Tatsuo Yoshida) | DOP David Tattersall

[grossdyke]

you should talk about sense8. if you want to.

lives were changed on this day..

[enbycrip]

Yeah, this is a more detailed version of my theories about The Matrix et al.

I have thoughts about the Oracle being in an alliance with Morpheus too - I think he was a previous “failed” One who got wise to the plan and essentially made an alliance with her to guide another One in a way closer to what she wanted, with the threat of creating a much more destructive revolution if she did not agree, to give himself time to manipulate Neo *and* Zion into creating what actually did happen.

In general I read The Matrix et al as a subtle critique of the Great Man Theory of History that pretends to be a movie about it. It’s so much cleverer than it pretends to be.

[crunchbuttsteak]

If I had a nickel for every director who made a genre-defining movie trilogy in the early 2000s and got their start directing a sapphic crime drama, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice.

[heavenlycinema]

The Matrix 1999

Dirs. Lana & Lilly Wachowski

“You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

[magicspeedwagon7]

i watched Don (2006) recently, and spoiler: i don't like it.

this film piqued my curiosity because of the poster and in general the aesthetics, which seems quite inspired by the Wachowskis' Matrix (1999). After all, this film sets a new standard for action films.

Action films before The Matrix were power fantasies featuring macho-men and explosions everywhere. The Wachowski sisters came in with their fashionable hero(ine), their choreographed action scenes modelled on Hong Kong action films, their abundant use of slow-motion, spinning cameras and other filmmaking techniques that make Neo look cool. The quintessence of coolness being achieved in the iconic 'bullet time scene' which combines all the above elements.

so when i saw, the theatrical release poster of the film Don (2006) i wondered if it was an Indian remake of the Wachowski sisters' masterpiece because why not ? after a quick Wikipedia research, I realised that it actually was the remake of the Hindi film of 1978 and, on paper, that sounds like a great idea. revamping an action film from the late 70s with new filmmaking techniques in a post-Matrix era; that makes sense, I was quite optimistic.

unfortunately all the inventive filmmaking techniques are used just to make Shah Rukh Khan cool and every other scene is mid. After the intermission, we even abandon the green filter because apparently for the filmmaker The Matrix = green filter. like i said, The Matrix emulated Hong Kong martial arts films for their action scenes, and so did Bollywood films in the 80s. so why does Farhan Akhtar (director of Don (2006)) decides to emulate the worst of Hollywood incomprehensible action scenes. Its countless cunts which create superficial 'smoothness'. why? my little theory is that Farhan Akhtar just want to make his protagonist 'look cool' but with a very superficial understanding of what makes a protagonist cool.

in this film, Shah Rukh Khan plays a dual role: the cruel drug lord Don and his lookalike Vijay, a kind-hearted man from humble origins. but he's too busy trying "to look cool", his acting is identical whether he plays Don or Vijay. moreover, we minimize how cruel Don is because of the "coolness" of Shah Rukh Khan. his "wittiness" defuses the emotional scenes that require seriousness.

to conclude, i'm so happy The Matrix was such an influential film but unfortunately people all around the world liked it for superficial reasons. for so many people, The Matrix is just green filter and slow motion, and that saddens me.

[who-canceled-roger-rabbit]

I like how the Wachowskis and Bob Fosse both gave us stories about women in Chicago being gay and doing crimes

[zippocreed501]

Bound (1996)

directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski

[darkcrowprincess]

Crying I really love this movie.

seeing all the 14-17 y/o queer kids who don’t know what v for vendetta is…. u mean the blockbuster film written by two trans women about a masked vigilante who decides to singlehandedly take down a fascist alternate version of england set in the distant year of 2020… and his driving force was getting justice for a lesbian who he never met but whose diary he found, who was separated from her wife before being killed by said fascist gov…. and it stars natalie portman…. okay

[magicalanimedonkeyboy]

Man, freaking Google misgenders the Wachowski sisters.

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

Bound (Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski, 1996)

[brinconvenient]

(tags from @blueandoblivious reading #ooo #idk what this is but uh #hhh beneath a piece of a screen grab from the film and the title and yearof the movie, Bound (1996))

This is "Bound" from 1996, starring Gina Gershon (heart-eyes sighing) and Jennifer Tilly (heart-eyes sighing) with Joey Pantoliono (with hair), written and directed by the Wachowski Sisters. It was their debut film, I believe, and they began working on The Matrix right after.

It is a film with significant noir, mafia, and heist elements and SO MUCH SAPPHIC LONGING AND SEDUCTION.

It is the platonic ideal of that "#not to be a lesbian" was created to describe. In the 90s and early-to-mid-00s, it was an essential part of queer woman canon, along with The L Word, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, Fried Green Tomatoes (the book is much more explicitly gay than the movie, I'm given to understand) , Thelma & Louise (straight women also went feral for this one and it's not explicitly gay, but every queer woman I knew then was watching this on repeat). It still should be.

Watch this movie. Just do yourself the biggest favor and watch it. Word of warning, there is some explicit visceral violence, as was definitely the custom in mafia media at the time, but it's usually well-telegraphed so you can turn away if it's not something you can or want to tolerate.

Non-spoilered personal history with the movie below the cut if you're interested. Otherwise, thanks for indulging my gushing and recommendation!

I remember seeing this when it came to home video. The woman who would eventually become my ex-wife showed it to me because she loved it, despite being her most emphatically straight woman I know.

Friend, this movie fucked me up. It's so incredibly personal and shot so gorgeously viscerally and it's so tightly scripted that it's just objectively good, but it's also so fucking steamy and the leads are gorgeous and powerful and lusty and perfectly balanced opposite each other... the push and the pull between them is palpable.

And it resonated with me on a deep and emotional level... I was 18 or 19 when I saw it and deeply in denial and ignorance of myself.

"Here I am, a young straight man (ha! I'm now none of those things) watching a movie about a lesbian seduction and affair (I'm much better about bi-erasure in my thoughts today) and feeling all of these confusing and mixed-up feelings about their connection, their lovemaking, their power dynamic, the butch-femme dynamic and inversions of assumptions ... that's not normal. Why do I feel the desire to be a part of something like that? That's so messed up. I must be one of those awful guys who only sees lesbian relationships as some kind of girl-on-girl fetish thing! I shouldn't be watching this, it wasn't made for me, I'm an intruder here! Who made this? I'm not going to but I feel like I should apologize to her for watching this and having feelings like this! Wait... two dudes made this (well, actually, no, but we wouldn't find that out for over a decade)? Oh no... are they fetishizers too and I'm also contributing to that? This feels so wrong (actually, it really felt right and that was A Problem). I hope my girlfriend doesn't find out that I did not have a Normal Response to this..."

I think the Wachowskis did get some flak for being appropriative or inappropriate or taking up space where they not only weren't wanted, but didn't belong at the time, but I don't have any direct contemporaneous memory of that. However, again, every queer woman I knew at the time was fucking feral about this movie, even if it was made by two guys (it wasn't - also the Wachowskis weren't the only queer women involved in the production, so the verisimmilitude was explainable at the time).

I didn't realize that The Matrix was made by the same creators at first, but I remember thinking how odd it was that these two guys (ahem) made this super lesbian film and also made this super straight guy action movie (Hahaha! Oh, Brin! You're so silly and naive!)

Anyway, the passage of time has clarified A LOT of things for me about this film, the production of it and my response to it.

I was lucky enough to see it earlier this year in a theater evening at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago with a bunch of other queer and kinky folks and it was such a wonderful way to experience a wonderful film. It's going to be 20 years old next year, and it holds up incredibly well, and I was not the least but confused about my feelings this time, I tell you!

Watch the movie.

Bound (1996)