One of Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s unique skills is his ability to inject poetry into even the most bizarre of subjects. He takes this to extremes in his new film “Bones and All”, which tells the story of two cannibals and won the Silver Lion for best director at the Venice Film Festival.
It’s a kind of tender horror drama full of blood and death, but also love and soft tones. After the acclaimed drama Call Me by Your Name, Guadagnino reunited with young star Timothée Chalamet.
This time, however, the focus is on Canadian actress Taylor Russell. She plays the cannibal Maren, who wants to find out how she got to who she is. While her father despairs of his daughter’s cannibalism and leaves her on her 18th birthday, Maren suspects that her unknown mother is also a cannibal. She goes looking for her. On her road trip, she realizes that there are other cannibals. For example, Sully, a survivor who is breathed life into by Mark Rylance in a brilliantly chilling way.
Road trip with powerful images
Eventually Maren meets Lee (Chalamet), also a young cannibal, and falls in love with him. The bond between the two develops very delicately, but does not remain without problems. Chalamet and Russell’s game really throbs as they cautiously approach each other. At the same time, the two are struggling with their own identity, which doesn’t make coming together any easier.
Getting to know each other is accompanied by powerful images. Their road trip takes them to endless, deserted roads and landscapes. Lee and Maren seem completely lost under the wide sky in Nebraska, Indiana or Montana. This is framed by a soundtrack of melancholic guitar tones and songs by Joy Division or New Order. “Bones and All” is set in the 80’s.
But between this beautiful atmosphere and the fragile togetherness, you shouldn’t forget that you’re still dealing with cannibals. Again and again Guadagnino puts human food on display – it gets bloody, dirty and full of relish. One of the cannibals carries around a long braid made out of the hair of everyone he’s already eaten.
Gentle coming-of-age romance and off-putting horror, do they really go together? You really can’t imagine it. 130 minutes later you are smarter.
– Bones and All, Italy/USA 2022, 130 minutes, FSK 16+ requested, by Luca Guadagnino, with Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Chloë Sevigny, Mark Rylance.
