Film Review: "Bones and All"

Director Luca Guadnigno is a filmmaker who relies on the human senses in his movies. He wants audiences to feel the sensations his characters go through, no matter the circumstances. Guadnigno’s latest film Bones and All places audiences into a violent and sweet love story. Based on the book of the same name, the story follows a pair of young people, Maren and Lee (Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet) with a secret. Both are cannibals, learning to live with their urges on the fringes of society. What follows is a blood-soaked and nightmarish American love story.

Bones and All works best in the relationship between both Maren and Lee. Chalamet and Russell have instant chemistry and feel like believable people. The feeling of loneliness conveyed in their performances makes their relationship genuine. Lulling the audience into the friendship makes the violence feel shocking. Mark Rylance also plays a role as an older mentor to Maren, in this cannibalistic world. Rylance as “Sully” feels like a character out of a different and genuinely scary film. The horror of this story is where the story's problems begin to arise.

There is a sense of paranoia among the protagonists similar to a doomed romance. Every situation is going to be thrown at these characters to prevent them from finding happiness. Meeting other cannibals along the way makes the story a rather grueling watch. The camera uses violence to teach us about these characters. It is an interesting method but makes the running-time grind to a halt. Bones and All’s supporting cast helps the film from feeling dull overall.

Actors like Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloe Sevigny, and Andre Holland make the world feel substantive. The film almost tells the viewer that this romance will never last, filling audiences with dread. Having so much dread in the story left me scratching my head at the story's point.  There is a disconnect between the s “mood” of  Bones and All and the meanings for audiences to take away. The saving grace of the film is the combination of both Chalamet and Russell. 

Watching them traverse through the mid-west feels poetic in places. As they both form a connection, the viewer forms one of their own.  It is the numbing sameness of the violence, that ruins the message. Is Guadnigno commenting on societal classes' limited options?  The film does not say. If the point of the story is unclear, then why should we, the audience, care about the outcome? That feeling holds the film back from reaching its true untapped potential.

Bones and All has lots of interesting ideas wanting to be expressed to viewers in the 132-minute running time. The ambition is admirable but told in a way that feels wasted for the talent involved. Two great performances never left me feeling bored, but could not help the film feels aimless.  Chalamet and Russell deliver two very engaging performances,  but not enough to leave a lasting impact.  Bones and all is certainly not one of the year’s worst films but could have been so much more.