The nature of humanity is to hide its true self from the world. It is an inclination which must be unlearned; to embrace what is deep within your heart is to find salvation. So what do you do if your truth eats other human beings? bones and allthe latest from director Luca Guadagnino (call me by your name), asks this very particular question. Like Guadagnino, who dabbled in everything from romance to witchcraft horror, bones and all defies easy categorization. It’s a swooning love story, a bloody psychological chill, and a refreshingly honest family drama, all fighting for control. Eventually, all of its parts work together in a beautiful concert, spawning a perfectly imperfect slice of cinema irresistible in its raw emotion.
bones and all starts out like your typical coming-of-age movie. High school student Maren Yearly (Taylor Russell) struggles under her overprotective father (André Holland), who locks him in his room every day after school. One night, she rebels, sneaking out the window to sleep over at a friend’s house. Looks like she’s finally learning to love herself until she bites her friend’s finger. Under the groans of her friends, and with the help of her father, she flees her native town, left to fend for herself in the heart of America. At a convenience store, she meets Lee (Timothée Chalamet), a fellow “eater”, who helps her embark on a cross-country journey to discover her roots as they begin to fall deeply in love.
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Based on the novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, bones and all knows that he deals with taboo subjects. A cannibalistic romance draws enough line in the sand to immediately turn off a good portion of the audience. Plus, the gory sequences of our main couple tearing into flesh teeth, first out of primal inclination, will obliterate the rest. Yet equally grim and harsh are the intimate close-ups of Maren and Lee, agonizing over finding their place in the world. Under the naturalist eye of the director of photography In Arseni Khachaturan’s deliberately shaky camerawork, the denial of his own nature is as acute as the indulgence, which in turn provokes shame with its own distinct sting.
Nonetheless, it’s between those moments when, aided by the dreamy guitar score of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, bones and all takes on a fairytale quality, letting these two broken individuals complete each other.Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet evokes a divine alchemy for the ages. Russell plays someone who is outwardly broken by the inner strength/hunger cursing her, while Chalamet gives the facade of a confident young man while his insecurity about his condition eats away at each other. Together, they are each other’s comfort. Screenwriter David Kajganich infuses his script with a profound humanism absent from the extrapolation of his (if not excellent) Suspiria 2018 scenario.
It’s catnip for actors playing a variety of aliens; Elderly eater Sully (Mark Rylance) succumbing to his loneliness more than his hunger is the obvious climax, turning what could have been a Stephen King villain into a pitiful pit of despair. Another major highlight is a performance by Michael Stuhlbarg and David Gordon Green that steals the scene from two eaters who have completely succumbed to a life of gleeful sadism. And then there are the people who are affected by Maren and Lee’s lifestyles; a row of killer talents from the above Andre Holland to Jessica Harper trying to make sense of their affliction. One thing remains the same: no one ever tries to accept them on their own terms. It’s all about fixing them.
bones and all invites its audience to look at Maren and Lee and accept them as they are. To empathize with them as human beings, with wants, desires, and all the feelings in between. To do this is to completely release yourself, to lose yourself in the magic of the human spirit and believe, if only for a moment, that this connection can flourish in the most unlikely places. It may not last forever, but it has its own unique beauty. Luca Guadagnino challenges you to understand the stranger. If you can unburden yourself of the cannibalistic nature of this tale, you will find yourself liberated by its tenderness and honesty. Plus, you’ll find yourself grappling with the most rewarding cinematic experiences of the year.
10/10
bones and all receives its wide release on November 23.
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