Bones and All

Bones and All

Abandoned by her father, a young woman named Maren embarks on a thousand-mile odyssey through the backroads of America where she meets Lee, a disenfranchised drifter. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their otherness.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 131 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance
  • Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny, André Holland, Francesca Scorsese, David Gordon Green, Anna Cobb, Max Soliz, Kendle Coffey, Johanna McGinley, Hannah Barlow, Claudio Encarnacion Montero, Sue Hopkins, Brady Gentry
  • Director: Luca Guadagnino
 Comments
  • yumyumwestern - 1 July 2024
    If you feel Daumier was misunderstood, watch.
    Two people who murder and eat their fellow human beings meet and fall in love. They take a road trip in search of family but in the end one of the lovers devours the other (Bones and All). Honestly, that's the story we're expected to swoon over.

    Big name cast and director but the story is so disturbing, Olivier couldn't possibly redeem the couple's behavior.

    In the commentary, the director and characters repeatedly refer to the murderers as having a "condition" and an "affliction" as if they shared a bad case of athlete's foot.

    If you feel Daumer was only a misunderstood boy looking for love, you may like this movie.
  • omallieharp - 19 May 2024
    Thought-Provoking and Well Acted but Missing Higher Stakes
    I went into this film not knowing much about the premise- apart from the cannibalism, of course! The world of the film had me hooked within the opening few minutes, starting off shocking and strong with a very sweet teenage girl, Maren (played wonderfully by Taylor Russell), simply going to a sleepover with other girls she wanted to be friends with. Everything takes a turn when she suddenly bites off the finger of one of the girls and eats it.

    My jaw, along with my two friends I was watching the film with, hit the floor; we all looked at each other for a few seconds in horror wondering if we should turn it off- but we just couldn't look away as Maren sprints down the street, away from her sleepover, and toward her dad where she shouts they have to move now because 'it happened again.' We couldn't even press pause. We had to know more.

    Because the beginning sequence was so jarring, I was expecting the rest of the film to have similarly thrilling and gory elements throughout; instead, I was consistently taken by the strange humanity director Luca Guadagnino built around this script. Every person Maren encounters going forward provides answers about how their world, that resembles ours so much, functions with Eaters (people who crave human flesh, like Maren) living among regular people.

    They also confront Maren with experiences that make her question everything about herself; her worth, her origin, how she came to be, how to navigate it, and whether or not she is capable of being good in spite of being an Eater. The person who most fundamentally raises these questions for her is Lee (Timothee Chalamet), who struggles with being an Eater in the same ways.

    Their dynamic is fascinating and the chemistry onscreen is electric. Each actor independently brings a deep sensitivity to their character that makes them anti-heroes you find yourself rooting for, even without a romantic relationship at play. Their negotiations about what is acceptable and what isn't is an ongoing theme, even playing in the background of scenes where they try to keep the regular people they love safe.

    My only complaint about this film is that the stakes often feel too low until the film reaches the final sequence. In a world where a group of people who eat human flesh exist among humans, there needs to be a consequence for Eaters when they go too long without feeding; in this world, there isn't one. Or, if it does, it's never specified nor does it affect the characters we follow. The story is focused on bringing the sense of humanity that many of the Eaters maintain forward, and it's done very well, but it feels slightly flat without the threat of psychological or physical effects (preferably both) of restraining too much.

    I already felt like the world was very compelling but I think it could have gone deeper. Even as it is, I would still recommend this film to anyone who enjoys more thought-provoking media. There is quite a bit of gore and has a significant sequence of intended sexual violence; so, watch with caution.