Bones and All, starring Timothée Chalamet, not only questions the morality of it characters, but will have audiences questioning their own.
In the past few years Hollywood has come to embrace the horror genre, when in the specific hands on a beloved auteur it seems that praise is showered over the reinvention of classic tropes that have made the genre so immortal. Leave it to Luca Guadagnino who redefined a classic of the genre in 2018s Suspiria to not only further explore the visceral limitations of the genre, but also mix it in unprecedented ways, with another Hollywood favorite: romance.
This unique blend of styles, tones, emotions, sensibilities, and stories create: BONES AND ALL, the story of two marginalized lovers who embarks on a 1,000-mile odyssey through the backroads of America and just so happen to be cannibals. However, despite their best efforts all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts, so the pair takes a final stand to determine whether their love can survive their otherness.
“Monsters don’t deserve love” is spoken by one of the characters in the film, and is essentially the thematic thesis behind Luca Gadagino’s tender tragic romance the illustrates the fragile human condition. Guadagnino tells this tale in a much more delicate manner than what is first expected judging from the synopsis, but the director’s romantic sensibilities present in Call Me By Your Name permeate this entire film as the two lovers’ cannibalistic urges pushed them into the margins of society, isolating them from needed human connection, forcing each into the other’s path where they finally discover someone who can relate to their pain as well as their urges.
The fragility of the human condition is explored in its complexity through two broken characters dealing with a degree of self-loathing they can barely understand given their condition drove away pivotal pillars such as parental figures and guiding hands that anyone would need in the formative years of their lives, and both carry an overwhelming sense of loneliness and guilt: Maren (Taylor Russell) due to the abandonment she faced when her mother walked about, and Lee’s (Timothée Chalamet) mysterious past that slowly unravels, compelling us to his tragic circumstances.
Both Maren and Lee and the way Guadagnino intertwines and unravels both their narratives evokes earnest empathy even in their clashing ideologies and the moral grey areas that define both so richly in a love story that is surprisingly tender with themes of selflessness and sacrifice, as these characters find themselves with the urge to eat away the world while it keeps consuming them and everything they have.
Taylor Russell is nothing short of stunning, the very beating heart of the story where her simplest glance of twitch is able to convey the most complex of emotions, and Timothée Chalamet once more delivers another stellar work as a clearly tortured soul, trapped in his own self-loathing. The pair’s chemistry is effortless, sparking off-screen with sincere passion.
Then there’s Sully (Mark Rylance), an eerie presence who starts off as the somewhat hopeful mentor to Maren, delivering a performance that is equal parts sinister and gleeful, leaving an impact even when he’s not on screen. Very much the worst version of what Maren and Lee could become, should they ultimately fail in their search for human connection, with Rylance embodying how solitude has eaten away at his sanity through the years, maximizing every single one of his spine-chilling minutes on screen.
Such a story with cannibalistic protagonist wisely rides a fine line of moral ambiguity that never excuses the behavior but portrays it as an addiction, presenting characters who are just as much victims of their own behavior as the ones they consume, exploring the most savage corners of humanity, the thematic viscerality allows the cast to fully commit physically to the roles and delivers absolutely primal, raw tension at every frame, while tenderly unmask the fragility hiding within as Luca Guadagnino propels characterization and performance to the forefront to build towards a an emotionally gut-wrenching crescendo, that much like every minute that built up to it: feels earned, with a gripping climax that will haunting the audiences memories for a while.
Bones and All not only questions the morality of it characters, but will have audiences questioning their own, the sensibilities of horror and romance are beautifully married as the visual rawness and viscerality is contrasted with moving themes of love, isolation, self-loathing richly layered with compelling humanity. A bound-to-be coming of age classic about our eternal, desperately search for connection.
FINAL GRADE: B+
NEXT: White Noise (Venice Film Festival 2022 Review)
About Bones and All
Love blossoms between a young woman on the margins of society and a disenfranchised drifter as they embark on a 3,000-mile odyssey through the backroads of America. However, despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their differences.
Bones and All played at the 2022 Venice Film Festival and hits theaters on November 23rd.
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Renato Vieira. 28.
Film Critic/Screenwriter from London UK
Masters Degree in Film Directing.
EIC of YouTube Channel “Ren Geekness”.