Timothée Chalamet reteams with ‘Call Me By Your Name’ director Luca Guadagnino for charming cannibal romance Bones and All’
I’m not sure if a film about cannibalism has ever been as heartbreaking and romantic as the new Luca Guadagnino movie Bones and All, a beautiful and intense story of young love and hunger. The rare horror romance, Guagnino constructs this coming-of-age story around the brilliant young actress Taylor Russell, best known for her appearance in the Escape Room franchises or the 2019 drama Waves. Russell plays Maren, a teenager in the mid-80s dealing with the usual trials of growing up, along with one additional issue: an insatiable taste for human flesh.
After tragedy strikes at her father’s home, Maren decides to journey from Virginia to the midwest in order to meet the mother she was long told was dead. Along the way, Maren learns more about herself and other “eaters” like her. As explained to her by an equally disturbing and humorous Mark Rylance as Sully, “eaters” have the need to consume human flesh to maintain their health and sanity, and they have the ability to “smell” the dead and dying around them. They also can smell other “eaters,” which led Sully to Maren in the first place. Maren knows that she needs to continue on her journey across the country, however, and she soon meets a fellow eater named Lee.
Here the romance kicks into high gear. Lee, played with uncharacteristic restraint by Timothée Chalamet, becomes a traveling companion and a lover and a confidante to Maren. As the two continue across the country, they encounter their broken families, some unsuited lovers, and a handful of other eaters with very different ways of viewing their consumption. Adapted from a 2015 novel by Camille DeAngelis of the same name, Bones and All features a fully-fleshed world that is easy to comprehend. Guadagnino’s frequent collaborator David Kajganich takes a novel and creates a universe. The film isn’t high fantasy, but it does feature the kind of world-building you’d expect from Lord of the Rings, itself being read within the movie by Maren.
Luca Guadagnino has always been a risk-taker cinematically, but this movie is a departure from any expectations. The film recalls not any horror movie but Nomadland more than anything else, both visually and in the episodic narrative. Georgian cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan provides an entirely different look from any of Guadagnino’s other films. The vibrant colors and expansive wide shots all add to the magic of Bones and All. But the risks aren’t only in the visuals, as Bones and All manages to one-up the gore of Suspiria and the sexual frankness of Call Me By Your Name. Anyone disappointed by the sex scenes in the latter film can happily know that Guadagnino has made up for past mistakes.
The 1980s fashion and production design are in full force throughout, but the film never feels like it’s trying to pull from the past. Instead, a pulse-pounding score from Reznor and Ross and a deeply haunted and modern performance delivered by classical Shakespearian actor Rylance allow this movie to feel truly of the moment. The film’s biggest flaw comes with the character and performance behind Lee. To steal a line from a tweet about Dakota Johnson, Timothée has the face of someone who owes an iPhone. The performance isn’t bad per se, but it feels out of place, and Chalamet feels amateurish compared to Russell. That said, Taylor Russell shows up everyone from Chloe Sevigny to Jessica Harper. This is the antithesis of a scream queen, and Russell proves that she is a talent to watch.
If you can stomach Bones and All, you should consume this film immediately. The cinematography is delicious, the performances are fleshed out, and the story is well done. If you have an appetite for horror and gore, this is the kind of film you’ve hungered for. And if you miss slobbering over Chalamet, this will satisfy that urge. However, this film might not be to everyone’s taste so be advised.
And yes, that was ten puns in one paragraph.
