“Bound by Flesh” (2012), Leslie Zemeckis’ splashy, heavily edited, busy but still talking-head-driven documentary about the Siamese twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton, who became sideshow stars in the early twentieth century, collates a fantastic amount of fabulous material while never attaining cinematic form. The editorial pace manages to be both pummeling and deadening. Zemeckis’ earlier work includes the so-so documentary on classic burlesque, “Behind the Burly Q.” 90m. (Ray Pride)
“Bound by Flesh” opens Friday, August 29 at Siskel.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s film critic and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine.
His multimedia history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” will be published soon. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram as Ghost Signs Chicago. More photography on Instagram.