Bones and All: LFF Film Review
Five years after Call Me by Your Name, Timothee Chalamet has reunited with his director Luca Guadgnino to play a cannibal in Bones and All.
The film is set in the ’80s and stars Taylor Russell as Maren, who regularly has to move towns with her father Frank (Andre Holland) after she gives into her urges and feeds – on human flesh. After he walks out on her, Maren ventures out into the world alone and finds a like-minded friend – and possible love interest – in Lee (Chalamet) and they go on a road trip to find her estranged mother.
This film is not for the faint-hearted. The lead characters are cannibals so it’s no surprise that you see people chowing down on other humans. Perhaps because I have seen other onscreen depictions of cannibalism, I didn’t think its treatment here was too nasty (until the final scene). It is gory and there is lots of blood, for sure, but Guadagnino generally cuts away before we see too much. But even though you don’t always see it, you can hear it and the squelchy sounds are still quite gross and made me wince. There were some walkouts in my screening so it’s clearly a difficult watch for some – so make sure you know what you’re getting into.
I wouldn’t describe the whole thing as a horror, but the scenes featuring Mark Rylance certainly fall into that category. He plays a fellow cannibal named Sully who ‘smells’ Maren out and offers her companionship – but he is creepy as hell. He made my skin crawl! Although this is Russell and Chalamet’s movie, Rylance was the star of the show. He isn’t in it that much but his arrival changes the atmosphere immediately and brings a palpable tension because you’re not sure what he’s going to do.
Michael Stuhlbarg, who was also in Call Me By Your Name, makes a similar impact. He has one sequence alongside Halloween director David Gordon Green as a fellow cannibal Maren and Lee meet on the road and he was freaky. I’ve only really seen Stuhlbarg as an academic/intellectual so it threw me off seeing him as this gross creep.
Outside of the cannibalism scenes, Bones and All is actually a tender coming-of-age, romance tale. It is all about Maren figuring out how to live a normal life despite her urges. She and Lee are two outcasts who find each other when they both need it the most and it’s actually really sweet watching their relationship blossom.
I must admit it went on a bit too long. There was a moment I thought was the end and would have been a beautiful ending – but then it goes on for another 15-20 minutes and A LOT happens in that time. A lot. The ending is brutal and I came away pretty stunned. It leaves a lasting image and it took a while to decompress after.
I’m so thrilled Russell has landed a lead role and been given a chance to shine. Maren is so adrift figuring out how to make normal life work with this unusual need and Russell captures that so well. Chalamet has weird hair like he does in Don’t Look Up and plays against his usual type. Lee is more relaxed about how they satisfy their needs and doesn’t feel the shame that weighs on Maren and they have a lovely partnership.
Despite my issues with the length, Bones and All is an excellent movie that really sticks with you for hours afterwards.
Seen as part of the London Film Festival. In cinemas from Wednesday 23rd November