Bones and All
Star-crossed lovers grapple with biting the thumb in Luca Guadagnino’s taboo tale of beasts and beauty.
Donner, party of two: Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet
Director Luca Guadagnino has created some of cinema's most compelling character studies. Throughout his filmography, he’s developed a repertory tradition, working with artists across projects. His frequent collaborations with Tilda Swinton include his breakout film The Protagonists and the sumptuous I Am Love. Swinton was joined by Dakota Johnson in Guadagnino’s remounting of Jacques Deray’s La piscine (A Bigger Splash), as well as his update on Dario Argento’s Suspiria. Guadagnino’s most commercially successful venture to date recreated sun-dappled 1980s Italy, bringing André Aciman’s poignant coming-of-age novel Call Me By Your Name to the big screen. The film garnered four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won James Ivory the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay. In Bones and All, Guadagnino reunites with his Call Me By Your Name lead Timothée Chalamet for another 80s set coming-of-age adaptation.
After a slumber party gone wrong, Maren (Taylor Russell) learns to hide who—and what—she really is, surviving on society’s margins as an outcast. She’s been abandoned by her own father, who leaves behind a record of her past indiscretions and his fears for her future. The tape’s revelations set Maren on a quest to Minnesota to find her long-lost mother and to understand her fondness for flesh. Along the way, she encounters other ‘eaters’, such as Sully (Mark Rylance), who seeks her out by scent alone in the hopes of enlisting her as his protege. Maren eventually teams up with an alluring, unapologetic drifter named Lee (Timothée Chalamet). Bonded by a shared urge, the underprivileged loners trek across the Midwest, coming of age in Reagan era America.
The gripping hipster road trip is chock full of allegory–heavy on the gory. It’s not an easy watch, but rewarding viewing for those who stomach it. The film could easily stand as an allegory for addiction, sexual awakening, or even the effects of 80s Reaganomics on the lower class. The pair’s inability to agree on how to satisfy their needs, coupled with their struggle to disassociate from the consequences of fulfilling those needs, becomes a central question on the nature of their impulses. The most telling moment comes when the pair sits in the rafters of a slaughterhouse, looking down on penned cattle. Maren asks Lee, “You ever think about that? Every one of them has a mom and a dad. Sisters, brothers, cousins, kids–friends even.” Lee goes on to explain that cows even have a unique language. A peek at the book’s acknowledgements reveals an ironic fact about the novel’s author Camille DeAngelis–she’s a master-certified vegan lifestyle coach and educator. Yet another allegorical lens. Featuring solid performances across the board, Russell and Chalamet are a really delectable duo. They’re supported by deeply unsettling turns from Mark Rylance, Chloë Sevigny, and Call Me By Your Name alum Michael Stuhlbarg. Director David Gordon Green (of the recent Halloween reboot trilogy and upcoming The Exorcist sequel) also cameos. Accompanied by a richly haunting score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, suffice to say, Bones and All offers plenty to chew on.
CHAD KENNERK
Cast: Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz, Mark Rylance, Kendle Coffey, Ellie Parker, Sean Bridgers.
Dir Luca Guadagnino, Pro Luca Guadagnino, Theresa Park, Marco Morabito, David Kajganich, Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Lorenzo Mieli, Gabriele Moratti, Peter Spears and Timothée Chalamet, Screenplay David Kajganich, Ph Arseni Khachaturan, Pro Des Elliott Hostetter, Ed Marco Costa, Music Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Costumes Giulia Piersanti, Dialect coach Martin McKellan.
Frenesy Film Company/Per Capita Productions/The Apartment Pictures/Memo Films/3 Marys Entertainment/Elafilm/Tenderstories-Warner Bros.
130 mins. Italy/USA. 2022. UK and US Rel: 23 November 2022. Cert. 18.
