Bones and All Review – A Film so delish, you will want to Lick it up

Imagine 1980s America, road-tripping as a fine young cannibal teen,  with your ride or die… I mean, let’s fucking go – amirite? Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino,  who brought us “Call Me By Your Name” strikes again with this beautifully crafted film. “Bones and All” follows the adventures of the ‘eaters’ (cannibals), the two main characters Lee,  played by Timothée Chalamet, and Taylor Russell as Maren.

We are first introduced to Maren, a seemingly “normal” teen living with her single dad. She slips out of the house to a friend’s sleepover party, when the girls get intimate Maren takes a bite of her gal pal’s finger. Oh yes, this is how it begins, no giveaways because we see it in the trailer. Maren panics and runs home to her dad, who quickly grabs all their belongings to head out to the next place. Later her Dad gets overwhelmed by the lifestyle and leaves Maren to her own devices, giving her a birth certificate and pointing her in the direction of her long-lost mother, played by Chloë Sevigny.

Maren sets off in search of her mother and meets  ‘eaters’ along the way. First, she encounters a creepy guy named Sully played by Mark Rylance,. Sully is also an ‘eater’ and hopes to teach Maren the ways of the world while relying on her companionship. He brings her to a house where he is starting to feed on an old lady who lived there. They feast together. Maren leaves Sully to continue her journey but Sully was not done with her.

Sully had the ultimate lines throughout this film, the best one was funny and creepy all at once: “It’s never dully with Sully”… Maren eventually meets the scrawny Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and the two develop a connection by sharing their family traumas and their own search of love and security. They navigate the world together in search of their loved ones and home.  Bones and all is based on the book by Camille DeAngelis, which I will be looking to read very soon!

The Good:

The film was beautifully shot by Cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan. You leave this film wanting to travel the country from dusk to dawn. The soundtrack… let’s talk about how the music was so perfect in every way.  The original score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is both brilliant in their own right. The Album track list includes  “Lick it up” by Kiss to Leonard Cohen’s “You want it darker” And yes, Timothée was amazing but I’m absolutely here for Actress Taylor Russel who was nothing short of phenomenal. Bone and all is super sensual in the most morbid best way ever. While it took me some time, I realized I actually fucking loved the film. It is dark and dreamy and reminiscent of Bonnie on Clyde. It’s gory and poetic – two things I love separately but together? Be still my emo heart! The film’s openly queer characters and sexual confidence that illuminates the screen are what we need more of these days.

The Bad:

It had moments where I wanted it to get even rawer but was almost walking on the safety line. Maybe that is my reckless side talking. It wasn’t necessarily dully but I was hoping for something a little wilder. Don’t let me lose you, I’m just a weirdo like that. Most folx will find this film to be just the right amount of bizarreness and that’s fine, to each his own. I needed more here.

Overall:

Here’s the thing, while it took me some time to digest Bones and All (haha, see what I did there?) I was able to conclude that it was just the artistic horror film I’d been searching for a long time. Go see this.

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Cast: Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Andre Holland, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jessica Harper, Madeleine Hall, Kendel Coffey

Direction: Luca Guadagnino

Cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan

Screenplay is written by: David Kajganich

Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross