In the past decades, there have been numerous great road movies starring killer couples, such as "Badlands". This list now includes "Bones and All". The (somewhat supernatural) cannibalism approach adds a horror aspect to the usual formula. However, the focus lies more on the love story between the two main characters, Maren (Taylor Russell) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet). Even though much of the violence occurs off-screen, there are some gory moments. The soundscape during these scenes may still give some people nightmares.

Chalamet is, as expected, very good in his role, but Russell can easily keep up with him. There's also the cannibal Sully, a disturbing side character played convincingly by Mark Rylance. As with many other road movies, "Bones and All" delivers great acting performances as well as stunning imagery from a variety of locations. The cinematography is excellent throughout, and director Luca Guadagnino always succeeds in captivating the viewer despite the rather slow-paced narrative.

In the end, the plot is secondary. The story is easy to follow, and the rules for the supernatural cannibals in this world are simple to grasp. Most of the time, it is also clear where the journey is going and what the motivations of the main characters are. Except for a few moments, there isn't much suspense, but the journey is still fascinating until the end.

_Bones and All_ is one of the most unique movies I have ever seen. It somehow simultaneously disgusts me while filling me with intense emotion capable of drawing tears to my eyes. It is a perfect blend, that I was unaware that I needed.

The journey our characters take in immense in terms of emotion and distance. I had such a great time watching our leads travel across country going wherever their hearts desired or wherever their noses took them. There were some creepy and intense encounters that had me on the edge of my seat but that was balanced with intimate moments between our leads. These scenes fill the majority of the 2 hour and twenty-minute runtime, and while that is a decently long film, it flew by, and the pace never seemed to lull. There were some scenes that could have been cut to save some time, but I argue that they were essential for character development and to make the film whole.

Throughout the course of the runtime there are intense introspective themes of morality that are at constant play. Watching the characters balance desire and need was so heartbreaking and real. Despite the horrific acts our main characters are performing, there is a deep hidden shame that seeps out as our character learns more and more about what she is.

These are very complex emotions to handle on screen and our two leads absolutely nailed it. Both Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet were brilliant! I will be honest, Timothée Chalamet is one of the big reasons why I wanted to see this movie so much and while he did an excellent job, he was outshined by Taylor Russell. She was so excellent, honestly perfect! This is the first film I have seen her in, and I was blown away. She deserves all the award recognitions for this film.

Bones and All is a masterpiece and needs to be seen in theaters. This is a hard movie to sell to an audience, but it was done perfectly and deserves all the credit, awards, and viewership.

**Score:** _94%_ |
**Verdict:** _Masterpiece_

"Maren" (Taylor Russell) sneaks out of her home to visit her girlfriends one night only for one of them to discover that she has a peculiar appetite - and I'm not talking sexually! Forced to flee with her father, who subsequently abandons her, she decides to try to track down her mother. A few bus journies later, she encounters the enigmatic "Sully" (Sir Mark Rylance) with whom she shares a snack and from whom she discovers a little more about her nature. Still, he makes her very nervous so she continues her journey alone where next she encounters "Lee" (Timothée Chalamet) after an altercation in a grocery store. He also has the same nourishment predilections and so the two start to bond. He helps her with her familial quest before an unexpected visitor throws quite a spanner in their plan. At times this is little better than a derivative road movie. The characterisations are all just a bit too contrived, and the narrative is hardly original - but, that said, there is a quirkily spooky performance from Sir Mark - who looks like he would not be out of place half way up an Alp and Russell offers a reasonable effort as the conflicted and confused young woman trying to reconcile her innate desires with her aspirations as a woman. Chalamet presents us with one of his more natural and charismatic performances here, even if - shirtless for much of it as he is - he still makes me want to force feed him a bowl of fries (indeed the title could have been applied just to him!) Lots of dialogue, too much really, but the story has layers of complexity to it surrounding issues of identity and purpose - especially amongst the American young, some fine photography and it plays the accruing sense of affection between the youngsters without cringing sentimentality before an ending that seemed a little unnecessarily brutal. I suspect this may get better with another viewing.

_Bones and All_ is nothing more than edgy, dull teenage cannibals taking a boring cross country road trip through poor, rural America, in a world where there apparently is a secret cult of hyper-cannibals (even a toddler at a restaurant) that can smell each other from miles away, and even though they claim there aren't _"that many of them"._

Aimless is how I would describe _Bones and All_ . I'm fine with the lack of a clear plot, but to not even really explore the characters or their motivations felt disappointing to me. I would've loved some more backstory on why they are the way that they are.

This movie throws off the weirdest vibes. It feels like a teen drama in some parts, and a hardcore cannibal film in others. It's like someone came up with a SNL parody of a YA road trip romance movie (_"What if, instead of vampires or werewolves, they were cannibals?! Innovation. "_) and instead of playing it for laughs, they played it completely straight. It just felt like a romance story that was originally about two people struggling with addiction on a road trip, and then the cannibalism was added before filming because writers saw that the romance part is just boring and had to add something to make their movie watchable. Sorry, but the romance was horrible - cheesy and corny as f**k. The dynamic between Lee and Maren didn't work for me, their relationship going from _"I'm an outsider, I'm feeling alien, I know how you feel"_ to _"I'm in love with you"_ in like...5 minutes. And every single dialogue between them is done in whispers, this felt very wannabe arthouse.

To me, the most interesting thing about the film was the way it wrestled with the ethics of dealing with cannibalistic compulsion. Also, I liked the searching for Maren's mom part to understand who she is. But Chloe Sevigny was completely wasted here, her scene came off as ridiculous. After that the movie turned into a YA snoozefest, and I lost interest. The third act is super drawn out. I thought at the beginning once Maren ate that girls finger that it was gonna be this wild rock and roll film, boy was I wrong because this movie is so slow.

As soon as I saw the premise, I knew it would end with either the girl eating the guy or vice versa. Predictable ending. I really didn't care for the final scene much at all, the overly melodramatic ending with her eating him was just so expected, and it tonally felt so off from the rest of the movie for me. That whole last sequence made my eyes roll. :rolling_eyes: I felt this could have ended with _"let’s be people for awhile"_.

I'm not saying it's a bad movie. It's genuinely very well made, the technical aspects and the filmmaking is done really well, acting is okay. From a horror angle, it was effective and made me very uncomfortable. But ultimately the film is centered around a romance story that is just average, nothing more. I don't know how the script managed to make this interesting concept utterly boring.

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"Bones and All holds committed, chemistry-filled performances from Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, telling a complex, interpretive story about true love and what we really need to survive.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross' score shines and is the work's greatest chance of receiving an Oscar nomination, taking into account the shocking approach to cannibalism - it partially affects the connection with the protagonists - and horror aspects.

A thought-provoking screenplay by David Kajganich and unrestrained direction by Luca Guadagnino elevate a film that deserves to be seen - and felt - on the big screen."

Rating: B