You feel afraid for the person he’s luring away, even when they’re much bigger than him. He wears each character so well, and despite his slim frame, completely sells Lee’s menace and predator nature. Similarly, Chalamet proves with each movie he does what a chameleon he is. Every time she interacts with a regular person, either to buy a bus ticket or to ask for the phonebook, you can feel the person assessing her strangeness, knowing that something’s not quite right. We get a sense of Maren’s character from her movements and even the way she sits - it feels unrestrained, wild, and almost feral at points. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross aptly conveys these dual themes, capturing the soaring feeling of first love yet weighed down by the melancholy of the past.

Somehow, director Luca Guadagnino has managed to meld the two themes seamlessly, where we are taken aback by the grotesque moments of masticating flesh, yet can still feel the tenderness of their love. We’re given landscapes filled with breathtaking views of pink, dappled skies, and the next minute we’re brought down quite forcefully to a blood-soaked earth. Along the way, Maran meets others just like her, and develops a connection with Lee (Timothée Chalamet).īones and All is first and foremost a love story, but because of the cannibalistic theme running through it, there are some truly horrifying images permeating the film. Furnished with some clues her father left behind, Maren decides to seek out her mother, to get some understanding of who she is. He’s kept her caged the best he could, quietly bidding his time until she turned 18 so he could finally leave.

Her father’s protective behaviour around her is not for her benefit, but for the benefit of others. Maren (Taylor Russell) has a secret: she craves human flesh. It’s the most unique and beautiful film of 2022. It’s 12 hours later, and I’m still thinking about it, almost as if it’s buried itself deep within my flesh – bones and all. You know that Martin Scorsese meme, with the words “this is cinema” hanging beside the image of his serious face? That’s exactly how I felt after the screening of Bones and All.

Bones and all book review