Bound (2025) Movie Review: A Shallow, Concerningly Uneven Examination of Trauma

Isaac Hirotsu Woofter’s “Bound” wants to wade into the deep end of the pool. It does in sudden bursts and flashes, rooting its protagonist as a flawed, imperfect being molded by the pain she carries inside her at all times. This pain is sometimes visceral and immediate, culminating in split-second decisions that unwittingly invite more suffering. But at other times, these heightened moments feel like a shallow, insincere imitation of something real. Although Bella (Alexandra Faye Sadeghian) stomps and crawls her way to hell and back, her gaze wracked with pain-fueled grit, “Bound” presents her moving story at the cost of everyone around her.

Woofter opens the film with the tranquil countryside, but this idyllic peace is immediately ruptured by Bella’s mother Yeva (Pooya Mohseni) and step-dad Gordy (Bryant Carroll) getting into a heated fight. Gordy’s unchecked aggression paints this as a common occurrence, his drug-dealing ways exacerbating his tendency to terrorize and abuse everyone he knows. An angry and traumatized Bella drives Gordy out upon learning that he hid her college acceptance letter, dashing her chances to start life afresh. Determined to keep fighting, Bella convinces her mother to never let him back into their lives, but she does it anyway. Although it is hard to blame Yeva, who is also a victim of abuse in this situation, Bella perceives this as an act of betrayal and leaves for New York City.

To Woofter’s credit, this jarring in-medias-res is compelling from the word go, prompting us to root for Bella as she glides through the unforgiving streets to survive another day. The grimy corners and alleyways of New York come with nasty surprises, but Bella is lucky enough to cross paths with three people who accept her for who she is (often to the point of egregious self-effacement). We have Marta (Jessica Pimentel), a bartender who provides Bella with a roof over her head, Owais (Rahim Karimloo), who employs her at his cafe even though her trial shift is horrendous, and Standrick (Jaye Aexander), a clothing store manager who ignores her stand-offish behavior and offers his warm friendship.

Bound (2025) Movie — A still from “Bound” (2025)

All three characters sport fringe identities — Marta is an undocumented immigrant doing her best to survive, Owais is impacted by acute loneliness yet unable to be there for his kids, while Standrick is a Black, gay man who has to battle bigotry at every turn. “Bound” introduces these complex personalities only for their stories to revolve exclusively around Bella, as if their lives are literally bound to this young, white woman who takes her friends’ compassion for granted. While Bella’s crashouts are understandable, her thoughtless tendency to upend the lives of her friends without concern for consequence brands her as privileged in ways the film doesn’t bother to dissect.

At one point, Standrick confronts Bella about her inherent privilege, but the film firmly takes a disillusioned, tone-deaf stance to push back against this valid criticism: that pain does not discriminate, as it sees no race or gender. While this is true in a certain sense, as social privilege doesn’t exempt anyone from suffering, it undoubtedly softens the blow for some and presents avenues that remain unthinkable for the marginalized. Although Gordy inadvertently finds a way (a rather contrived and sudden one) to invade Bella’s life in the city, she still has ample chances to cling to hope and work towards becoming the person she wants to be. Standrick, however, has to forever battle homophobic/racial microaggressions, as he has no choice but to contend with such identity-based prejudice while also dealing with personal pain.

Time and again, Bella lashes out against people who already have enough on their plates, who mutely accept her cruelty out of consideration for her pain. At no point do we see Bella emerge as a good friend, even for a fleeting moment, where she offers someone a shoulder to cry on, or has something sincerely sweet to say. Even when someone like Marta is at risk of being deported, she wheels around with an indignant “what about me?!” demeanor, putting her trauma front and center while dismissing what anyone else is going through. None of this would be a detriment to the film if fleshed out in measured ways, but “Bound” wants us to share Bella’s selfish, myopic vision and treat its marginalized characters with the same superficial inclusivity it does.

A still from Bound (2025) — Another still from “Bound” (2025)

This uneven, almost-insulting allocation of character agency aside, “Bound” brims with incredible performances across the board. Sadeghian succeeds in framing Bella’s deeply flawed traits in deliciously complex shades, creating an inner landscape that desperately emotes like a person about to drown. When Sadeghian screams in anguish or tenderly tends to her pet squirrel, we are one with her in that unfeigned momentary vacuum, even if we don’t agree with every decision she makes within a grander context. Carroll, on the other hand, hams it up as the menacing, whimpering Gordy, delivering a strong impression that is unfortunately undercut by shoddy writing and an ending that saps all catharsis out of the story.

Even when reveling in bittersweetness, these messy, impulsive characters smack of inauthenticity, as their actions are disconnected from the flimsy narrative fabric that doesn’t have anything substantial to say. Even when “Bound” intermittently soars and lands on an emotion that rattles one’s core, it plummets right back into shallow waters, embracing an ethos that is painfully skin-deep.