As you might know, I am not the hugest fan of Luca Guadagnino’s films. “Call Me By Your Name” was decent, his “Suspiria” reimagining was passable, and I did not connect with “A Bigger Splash” at all. I think “Bones & All” definitely made me connect with a Luca Guadagnino film for the first time.

“Bones & All” illustrates the story of Maren, a cannibal eater who is left to fend for herself after causing many cannibalistic outbursts. Her father gives Maren a tape recorder, a small sum of cash, and her birth certificate. Meanwhile, at a gas station store, she encounters a young man who has similar qualities named Lee. Maren and Lee both get along quite well, but both have histories of their outbursts and are aware of their own cannibalistic qualities. There it endeavors its road-trip qualities where both Maren and Lee embark on a road trip to find Maren’s mother.

Luca Guadagino’s “Bones & All” is by far the best film he has accomplished. It may be flawed in its balance of genres of horror, romance, road trip, and coming-of-age, but Guadagnino accomplishes what he rarely has in his movies, having all characters feel like they are human. There is something special with the performances of Mark Rylance, Taylor Russell, and Timothee Chalamet here that it feels like a completely different breed of Luca Guadagnino.  

I thought Michael Stuhlbarg and Jessica Harper’s supporting performances were fine, but the film’s central performances here are Timothee, Taylor, and Mark.

Timothee Chalamet does not feel like his one-note self as he usually is and reminisces of his showy acting in “Beautiful Boy”. His character as Lee, while having the same cannibal qualities as Taylor Russell’s Maren, has very chill and down-to-earth qualities to his character while also having so much sympathy and love for Maren. I of course implored in pure joy when he introduced Maren to KISS’s “Lick It Up”. That is definitely a different story.

Taylor Russell’s monstrous performance as Maren is another example of Russell like “Waves” where she is going to be an up and coming star in the coming years (and maybe a future Oscar win). She perfectly plays a character where she is aware that she has delicate cannibal powers. Mark Rylance on the other hand like Colin Farrell this year is having an exceptional 2022. Having films like this, “The Phantom of the Open”, and “The Outfit” is definitely something to be proud of. Rylance’s exquisite performance as cannibal eater Sully should prevent spoilers at all costs.

The ingenious aspects of Luca’s new movie is that I applaud Luca for keeping the cannibalism aspects self-aware rather than coming off like a torture porn extravaganza a la Lars von Trier. They are meant to serve a rightful purpose to the story because those are the two main characters’ treacherous powers they cannot leave behind. I think that is smart to incorporate in a film like this.

Another one of those ingenious aspects that I loved about “Bones & All” is the intimate and romantic chemistry between Maren and Lee. On top of that, that comes to my conclusion in where “Bones & All” could be considered a coming-of-age story where Maren experiences first love with Lee.

Albeit a couple rough pacing spots and flawed genre balancing, “Bones & All” just really succeeded for me as a blend of horror, road-trip, and coming-of-age. It obviously may not be for everybody considering the cannibalism aspects, but for a film about realizing of what dangerous powers can react to people, I think Luca succeeded.

Grade: 8/10