Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Starring Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet and Mark Rylance

As I entered the cinema for the screening of Bones and All, my curiosity level heightened by the fact I knew nothing at all about this story based on the 2015 novel by Camille DeAngelis. What I did know is this is the second collaboration between director Luca Guadagnino and actor Timothée Chalamet after their 2017 romance masterpiece Call Me By Your Name, hence making this a film I was also really looking forward to seeing. 

One of many things that Bones and All turns out to be is a love story, albeit with a far more… “unique appetite” for romance. I suspect many of you reading this will already know what I am referring to and therefore I trust mentioning and delving into this facet of the film won’t be spoiling anything. I acknowledge this move can seem a little against the grain by my modus operandi of film reviewing, however I feel this is something viewers will want to know they’re walking into in advance, and it also turns out to be a critical arc of the narrative to address. Nevertheless, if you do still prefer to attend Bones and All flying completely blind, then please return to this review after you’ve seen the film.

One of the film’s most potent moments surfaces when the real reason why teenager Maren (Taylor Russell) is being locked inside her bedroom overnight by her cold and unloving father becomes apparent. It isn’t an act of oppression, but rather it is an act of control for protection. Protection for himself, for Maren and for the wider community. When she breaks her father’s trust one final time, Maren must go on the run and attempt to start a new life for herself. But can she leave behind, or at least strictly control, the one characteristic, one need, that if acted upon, will reveal exactly what she is? 

Don’t worry now, I promise Maren is not a vampire. In fact, that is one of a few successes Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All can be credited with – while it is ostensibly marketed towards a teen audience and shares similarities with The Twilight Saga, it is very much its own film. An original work. The diversity that is applied to the film through characterisation, genre-meshing, cinematography, production design and music definitely establish and maintain strong originality and atmosphere. The self-exploration journey that follows for Maren is engaging and the narrative depth that is derived made me feel in uncharted cinematic territory. Poor Maren has quite a lot to confront and deal with. Most of it on her own too. Her greatest challenge above all others, however, is her cannibalistic need of cuisine. Despite its unsavoury meal break predilection, this is also when Bones and All is at its bone-crunching best – when Maren questions and challenges her need to feed, how we grasp why her appetite is also her affliction, witnessing the remorse she feels from seeing the “leftovers” of what fulfilling that need looks like.

As Bones and All spends the majority of its slow-moving two-hour plus run time uncovering the warts and all of the cannibal lifestyle, there is fortunately enough ‘meat on its bones’ that kept me invested. Though it did take several days after watching this coming-of-age drama/horror for me to better appreciate those aforementioned components after its failing finale left a bitter taste. All I am willing to say in regard to that is it’s such a great disappointment that the story suddenly finds itself lost and completely abandons the trajectory it had been building, which was a major anchoring point. As a result of rerouting, Bones and All ends in what can only be described as a hot bloody mess. 

Bones and All is showing in cinemas across Australia from November 24th.

Moviedoc thanks Universal Pictures for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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