Film Review - Bones and All

Images courtesy of Warner Bros.

Playing like an emotional middle ground between Badlands and the Twilight saga, Luca Guadagnino's new Timothee Chalamet-starrer Bones and All is a romantic cannibal road movie, presenting a tale of both the impossibility and inevitability of love; how even in the bleakest of circumstances, when we least expect, or even want it, romance can blossom like a weed in the desert. Anchoring that core narrative is an impressive performance from Taylor Russell as our lead Maren, one that's sure to put her on the map for good after her breakout role in Trey Edward Schultz's Waves (though more horror-tuned audience members may recognise her more from the Escape Room duology).

Alongside Russell and big Timmy C is Mark Rylance as the creepy Sully, and in smaller roles are Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny, Francesca Scorsese, and Anna Cobb (of We're All Going to the World's Fair - review on that here). The world Bones and All inhabits is subtly peppered with texture, not only thanks to its tapestry of bit characters, but also due to its 80's Midwestern Americana setting, filtered through blood-red-tinted glasses; along with a delicate juggling act of disparate genres, all of which fold into a nevertheless intimate and at times emotionally overwhelming story. The mere gaul to disperse moments of intensely graphic gore into a story as heartfelt as this and have it even work at all is a triumph in its own right, although given my love for Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria remake, I was left expecting a more consistent emotional response to the story at hand.

While I can honestly say I was never bored (even when the film clawed back in for a somewhat unnecessary final 15 minutes), and given that I usually champion films settling for shorter runtimes, I do feel that Bones and All rushes to its narrative pit stops in a way that somewhat robs it of the solid, steady footing usually found in films like this that tend to prioritise moodiness and vibes above all else. I couldn't help but feel certain scenes were both over- and under-written, with characters more or less outright stating emotions that were already made clear by the stellar performances. The people-eating at the film's core makes for a poignant thematic meal, and I can see people projecting their own struggles onto the coming-of-age cannibalism, whether it be sexuality, gender identity, histories of trauma and/or mental illness.

Considering how much time is spent battling with conflicting ideas on how to live with one's self, it's a tad bitter that the film's final act ends up boiling down to a reductive "love is the answer" approach. Regardless, Bones and All's cruisy journey to the finish line is easy to get swept up in if you don't mind stomaching the occasional finger or intestine, even if, unlike its protagonists' appetites, it sometimes struggles to go beyond skin deep.

Bones and All is screening in cinemas from Thursday 24th November. For tickets and more info, click here.