A coming-of-age film generally has some pretty standard troupes and calling cards. The anguish of not fitting in mixed with the discovery of unfolding into someone you are meant to be or want to be are ways these stories of growth are told. And then there’s Bones and All. Although some may think this film is about love, and yes it definitely has that splattered in (excuse the use of the word), it’s not just about two cannibals finding their way in each other but in general just finding their way. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, this isn’t the first time famed director and newly favored actor Timothee Chalamet have shaken the silver screen. The pair’s previously popularized work Call Me By Your Name, also changed the climate of what coming of age should look like in this GenZ-dominated era. I will state that I had never seen the film, but the tones seemed to seep out within every review and snippet of film I happened to catch on the internet. So why Bones and All? Because who could not want to see how this plays out? And what a playout it was. From beginning to end the film blurs the lines of what is right and wrong however, does not abandon its original purpose, how do you live with consumption if consuming others is all you do?
From the very beginning, we start with Maren, played by powerhouse Taylor Russell, seemly living the average life but setting a personality troupe of a “lonely teen.” She does well by emoting it with every twitch of her face and furrow of her brow. Without giving away too much of the gruesomeness, she takes a bite of her first moment of acceptance when she attends a friend’s slumber party. It is after this event that she is abandoned by her father and left to figure out this life of hunger on her own. In this misguided tour, we meet her first familiar Sully, played by an eerie Mark Ryanlance, who says he smelled her a mile away. Sure ok, that’s not worrisome, but hey when you eat people you’re not too concerned about where this can go. It’s after this encounter when Sully breaks down the way he has lived as a feeder that something just doesn’t sit right with Maren and rightfully so with Sully being a much older feeder. In turn, she ditches the first person who actually shares a plate with her. Shortly, we encounter Lee, Chalamet, and it’s his random act of kindness or shall I say “quid pro quo Clarice”, that she persistently joins him on his adventures. That’s only the first 45 minutes of the 2-hour run time.
Taylor holds her own so well, one could not imagine a better partner than Chalamet who has been coming up the acting ranks fast and hard. The score also hits every note, yeah I’m aware, of how it tenses up the way I’d imagine one would having to tear into flesh. Not to mention the solid settings of practically middle-of-nowhere America but also, purely Americana. At every stop, we champion the idea that these two cannibals have to survive, even when met with Adversaries only to realize that we are initially championing them to eat other people. So how does that leave you feeling at the end of the film? When all you’re doing is watching two young people trying to figure out life with something that is seemingly so heavy but in the same respect should be so wrong. That is the difference between this coming-of-age film. The message is that yes, we are trying to figure it out but in this one the human connection is digestive. Swallowing life, bones, and all.