A review of new movie Bones and All

Warning: This article covers content that may be triggering to some readers. Please read at your own discretion. 

Luca Guadagnino’s newest release Bones and all just hit theaters, and with Timothée Chalamet being a lead alongside love interest and main character Taylor Russell, how could I not see it. This is your warning that spoilers are coming.

Before I dive into my review I thought I would share the first thing my friend said to me as we exited the Theatre:

“How are you not messed up from that?” 

This coming of age horror film starts with Maren, who almost immediately gives into her cannibalistic urges. After being left by her father, who can no longer handle cleaning up after his daughter. Maren sets off to find her mother who she never met, having been left by her father.

On Maren’s journey she meets others with the same urges and learns about herself for the first time with help from Leon. The two loners find comradery in each other’s presence, which is the main theme shared in this movie. 

I was shocked by the disturbing scenes of what are called ‘eaters’ feasting on other humans, but Maren and Lee become a cause for sympathy. Maren taught Lee a lot about embracing emotions and Maren learned a lot about herself from Lee. I think Maren and Lee are generally good people, however they continue to ‘eat’ but you can’t help but want them to be ok. 

We met some disturbing characters along the way, ‘cough cough,’ Sully, and you can’t help but compare these other ‘eaters’ to our main characters, who almost seem more human than their counterparts. 

I found myself questioning how I could like them, how I could sympathize with them, but I soon realized that was the same journey Maren was on with herself.

This movie is not scary, at least not in terms of jump scares, but it does make you realize how easy it is for people to hurt people. Good people hurt people, but does that make them bad? 

The movie ends with our main characters attempting to live a normal life, (I was really rooting for them) however their past comes back to haunt them in the form of Sully. Sully may be one of the creepiest characters I have seen in any movie ever, but you can’t help but feel slightly bad for him, because unlike our two leads, he was never able to find anyone who understood and accepted him completely, bones and all. 

The imagery of the film and chemistry between the leads is something to be applauded. 

I do not think I will be a repeat watcher of this movie but I appreciated its direction and found it to be quite thought provoking and interesting. If you have the time, and a strong stomach, go see this movie.