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| Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell in "Bones and All" Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com |
The concept of a road movie is something that’s been enticing filmgoers for decades. The notion of jumping in your car and doing some traveling, whether impromptu or not, has given these films a possibility of showing how endless those possibilities are, and to have these stories unfold like a map to transport you to stunning locales is an experience to have. Whether it’s a classic example like “Easy Rider,” “Bonnie and Clyde," or “Thelma and Louise,” or a modern examples like “Nebraska,” “Sideways,” or “American Honey,” you go into these films knowing that there are always sights to see.
The latest of such films to come our way takes a very out-there approach with Luca Guadagnino’s horror drama, “Bones and All,” an unconventional romance that brings you on the road and into the lives of two stray humans.
In 1980s Virginia, Maren (Taylor Russell), a cannibal, is abandoned by her father (André Holland) after she attacks a classmate at a sleepover. Not knowing how to cope with her condition, she hits the road to try and find her mother (Chloë Sevigny), who left Maren when she was young. Along the way, she meets a fellow cannibal, Lee (Timothée Chalamet), who joins Maren on her journey and helps her adjust to their uncommon lifestyle.
Russell is wonderful as a young woman who’s trying to get a grip on what it means to be who she is. She displays Maren’s resourcefulness in packing up and starting over, a headstrong quality to her that’s she’s had to built up due to instability in her life. Despite a quiet personality and a sense of loneliness, Russell exhibits her character’s determination and strength to make sense of everything and not hesitate to be on her own if she needs to. It’s a beautiful performance of a character growing up and learning about the world and herself.
Chalamet delivers a performance of someone who’s wise to the road and exudes a confidence of how to manage his lifestyle, no matter how gruesome it may be. He shows a carefulness with going about his business, showing someone who’s done this many times and is merely trying to survive under the given circumstances. Chalamet plays his character as a rather subdued individual, but also gives Lee a shade of intensity that presents a person who has had to live on the fridges of society with the fear of people finding out what he is.
Mark Rylance provides chilling work as Sully, a cannibal who tries to teach Maren how to be like him, but might not have her best intentions at heart. He gives hints of the danger lurking beneath Sully’s seemingly benevolent façade, unsettling you in becoming creepier as his performance progresses. A great deal of the horror in the film comes from him, and the disturbing personality that he brings to his scenes, even when he tries to come off as friendly, brings considerable tension to his scant, yet impactful, sequences.
Michael Stuhlbarg appears in just one scene as Jake, another cannibal whom Maren and Lee meet on their travels. As a sort of backwoods individual, Stuhlbarg makes the most of his few minutes on screen as a character who’s disturbing in his own way. There’s more of a lack of the refined sensibilities that we see in Sully, and Stuhlbarg makes us feel the unpredictability and danger of Jake.
The screenplay by David Kajganich is adapted from Camille DeAngelis’ 2015 novel of the same name, capturing the spirit of the source material as it brings her narrative to the screen. Despite the novel being just under 300 pages and a pretty fast-paced read, there’s still a sprawling nature when you read the book as it takes you through America, and Kajganich accomplishes the same with his screenplay. Just as the book does, the screenplay allows us to spend enough time with Maren as she tries to acclimate to living on the road and lets us get to know her before she meets Lee. From there, we see a further evolution of her character as she becomes familiar with Lee and sees how other cannibals make it through their lives. Much of the film is scenes shared by Maren and Lee, making this movie every bit of a love story as it is a road story, with Kajganich melding the two sub-genres to superb effect.
The cinematography by Arseni Khachaturan presents the American terrain in gorgeous detail as we move all over the country. Between the beautiful landscapes and the camerawork of Maren and Lee’s car traversing the roads through those regions, Khachaturan shows the spirit of what it means to travel the road, finding out who you are, and sharing that time with someone. With Khachaturan’s lensing, you feel the expansiveness of the lands through which Maren and Lee are venturing.
Between Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” remake and this, he shows an ability to find beauty in grotesquery and is one of the most artful directors working today when it comes to horror movies. While DeAngelis’ book mostly shows the lead-up and the aftermath of the cannibalistic killings, the film shows them in more detail. However, despite the intensity of what was seen in “Suspiria,” Guadagnino doesn’t make the violence too off-putting to the point of detracting from the more emotional beats of the story.
In sticking with what made the novel so great, and mixing that with the talents of Guadagnino and his team, “Bones and All” has it all.
Grade: A
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