Bones and All
Bones and All
Starring Taylor Russell, Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Michael Stuhlbarg
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
In the 1980s, Maren Yearly (Taylor Russell) and her father Frank (Andre Holland) travel from state to state, never really settling into one area long enough, because Maren has a dark secret - she's a cannibal, who needs to eat human flesh, even though she opposes killing someone to do it. It's her nature, and something she tries to suppress but finds herself needing it more and more. After an event in Virginia, Frank abandons Maren with nothing more than some money and a birth certificate, leaving her to travel to Minnesota in hopes of finding her long-forgotten mother. Along the way she runs into Sully (Mark Rylance), an elderly cannibal who refers to himself and others like him as "Eaters," who shows Maren a different way of looking at things that terrifies her.
She escapes and continues on her journey where she runs into fellow Eater Lee (Timothee Chalamet) who doesn't share the same moral issues Maren has when it comes to eating human flesh, and the two embark on their cross-country adventure, stopping at Lee's family home as well as journeying to find Maren's mother. Along the way the couple fall in love, but their opposing views on eating humans cause them to come into conflict with one another - as well as Sully, who follows the young couple because he feels a deep connection to Maren that threatens all of their lives.
Luca Guadagnino is one of my favorite directors because he manages to not pigeon-hole himself into a genre, but with a sense of fluidity can balance between different genres with ease and perfection. "Call Me By Your Name" is one of the best romance films I've ever seen, and his remake of "Suspiria" holds up in the annals of remakes, so it's rather obvious that he'd be the one to merge the romance and the horror for "Bones and All" and gives ample time for both. It's equal parts coming-of-age romance between two strong actors, as well as unmitigated body horror as they feast on the flesh of the dead like animals on all fours, much like how an apex predator devours his prey. It's a jarring juxtaposition of genres, but Guadagnino maintains a balance that gives both the time they deserve to be fully fleshed out.
Taylor Russell is best known for her mediocre role in the "Escape Room" franchise, but here she's finally allowed to let her creativity and acting prowess come front-and-center. Maren is a troubled youth who felt she was alone in the world - a lone cannibal who struggles with her urges and desires, trying hard to not give into her inner demons but needing to do so in order to survive. She's strong beyond her eighteen years, and is left to fend for herself after her father leaves her. Determined and headstrong, she embarks on her journey to find her mother and hopefully find an answer as to why she's the way she is, and along the way she learns that she's not alone - but that does little to help with her moral dilemma, as others don't seem as interested in human life as she is.
Timothee Chalamet made a name for himself starring in independent films as the brooding bad boy figure, and earned his first Academy Award nomination in Luca Guadagnino's "Call Me By Your Name," so it's only natural he returns for another go-around with the director. As Lee, Chalamet is almost a heartless human eater, but he still maintains a sense of morality: he doesn't kill anyone who has families, but rather those he feels "deserves" it. While he seems on the outside someone who is calm, cool, and collected, he's harboring deep-seeded turmoil that threatens to tear him apart from the inside, something that fellow Eater Jake (played with wonderful aplomb by fellow Guadagnino mainstay and "Call Me By Your Name" star Michael Stuhlbarg, who once played Chalamet's father) notices from the get-go. You see Lee as a multi-layered character, and Maren helps peel those outer edges away until we witness the deep emotional center that Lee possesses, and of course Chalamet nails it once again.
To round out this trio of spectacular performances is Oscar-winner Mark Rylance, who plays Sully with a very lived-in feel. You know he's been through it all, and he knows what he's doing. He can smell Eaters miles away, and much like Maren he has rules: the first one being that he never eats an Eater. He also doesn't kill, but in a sense he does, as when Maren first meets Sully he's living in an old woman's house as she slowly dies from natural causes, but doesn't call an ambulance to save her. He teaches Maren how to smell not just fellow Eaters, but death itself, and when she passes away Maren can smell it, leading to the two feasting on her warm corpse. While it seems like he's a new father figure, Sully has a darker story that churns within Rylance's performance: a sinister feel that grips you and gives you a sense of unease beneath the warm facade.
When it comes to the romance tale, we get a visual treat thanks to cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan, who turns the Americana countryside of the 80s into a beautiful landscape of natural hues making it impossible not to fall in love with. The musical score also resounds as Maren and Lee fall in love, and we believe it not just because of the performances and script, but the music that accompanies it. Take out the cannibal aspect, and you'd get a spectacular love story between two star-crossed lovers who bond over their uniqueness. However, with the cannibalism story thrown in, it only somehow manages to heighten the relationship and gives it a more personal feel.
When it comes to the horror of cannibalism, Guadagnino doesn't shy away from it either. We hear the sound of flesh being torn into, we see the blood-soaked floors and walls, and we see the victims getting devoured like carcasses of animals being eaten by other animals. The music here changes tone significantly, and is an unnerving contrast to the love story being told. What's more impactful here as well is the fact that the victims aren't just warm bodies, but actual people. Their stories are told through photographs that we see, and we know that they're not just food sources but people who had families, friends, people who loved them. It's heart-wrenching to the core, but also a necessity for those who must feed on them.
Blending the genres of coming-of-age romance and cannibalistic horror seems impossible to do, but in the capable hands of Luca Guadagnino and a solid script, "Bones and All" accomplishes this feat. By providing compelling performances by a blend of new and seasoned actors, the film leaves an indelible print on the viewer who can appreciate both the grandiose beauty of the love story being told as well as repulsed by the body horror cannibalistic scenes also occurring. It's strange, but beautiful all at the same time.
The Score: A+
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