Returning to work with many of his previous collaborators in front and behind the camera, Luca Guadagnino has remained in the world of horror following his Suspiria remake that I liked an awful lot, this time for his first film on American soil – the tale of two young cannibals (known here as “eaters”) as they traverse the states looking or solace in different ways from their inability to satiate their need for human flesh. That’s the pitch and yet this film is as much a great coming of age romance as it is a great horror adjacent drama as it is a dark tale of tragic loneliness. Overall Bones and All is a treat for anybody who can stomach it.

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From a very early point in the film I personally found this to be one of Guadagnino’s most accomplished and consistent films, of course I have very much enjoyed other films he has made, however there was just something about the pace, the characters and the film-making of this film in particular that made it feel a little above the rest. Now of course this film has a lot more plot, exposition and rules to dole out and so that places an immediate focus on the developments of certain details rather than the typical ambience and overall vibe that many of his films prior have. This film still has that world-building and the ability for one to fall into it and is still for that matter a loose and ambient character study and romance above all else, but just feels more focussed, which for me places this firmly as my favourite of his films he has made thus far in his career. This sort of horror adjacent tale of tragic lost souls is also firmly in my camp when it does as well as this film is. Guadagnino also is with this film bringing together his more recent work in horror, with the more romantic and sumptuous tales he has made before, making for a heady combination that works very well indeed. The screenplay for the film written by David Kaiganich, from the novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, is a really great piece of work and manages to balance a romantic through line with a series of often terrifying encounters as our lead couple go along their way. The delivery of rules and exposition is subtle and always well written and natural, and the overall feel of the film never feels too segmented, it all flows very nicely and is again for my money the most well paced of all of Guadagnino’s films – which in many ways I feel is down to the tightness and solidness of Kaiganich’s screenplay adaptation. The film is stunningly beautiful as much as it is grizzly and gritty largely down to the work of cinematographer Arseni Khacaturan, with the films clash of franticness and solemness bolstered by the editing of Marco Costa.

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Taylor Russell is the star of our film and is sublime as our young “eater” coming to terms in her late teens with what she really is after her father deserts her after no longer being able to deal with the monstrous true nature of his own child. Andre Holland as this deserting father is only in a few early scenes and then a few voiceover monologues but brings the tenderness and pained quality of his previous great performances once more to the table here. Russell really is stellar here and is great on her own, but her character and performance is only taken higher by the chemistry she shares with Timothee Chalamet as her love interest, another young “eater”. Chalamet has been quite hit and miss with me over the years, it’s either a very big hit or a very big miss, this was thankfully a very big hit. He was unsettling, alluring, charismatic and touching and together with Russell the central romance worked terrifically for me. Jessica Harper, Chloe Sevigny, Michael Stuhlbarg and David Gordon Green all come in for small parts similar to Holland and all give excellent performances that take the film to new directions of both horror and pain. With Harper and Sevigny just as painful and saddening to watch in different ways as Gordon Green and Stuhlbarg wre deeply unnerving and frightening. However once again I am completely taken away by Mark Rylance, who is just unequivocally one of the greatest actors of any generation. He so completely inhabits in peculiar and bizarre ways the character of Sully that the film completely changes axis’s whenever he appears on screen. It’s beyond a terrifying turn, it’s a subtle and complex supporting performance that takes this film up at least a few points. One of my sure-fire favourite supporting turns of the year without a doubt.

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A brutal, viscous and sweet 9/10 with great performances, a riveting romantic adventure at its core and a conceit so wickedly perverse and well-made that one can’t help but grow intoxicated by the film’s allure. The films darkness balances with its romance and tender heart, despite being fuelled at its core by grizzly gore, but remains never overly sensationalist or graphic for the sake of guts and gizzards. The film doesn’t pull its punches and although I feel on a first watch my slight hesitance to the abruptness of the ending will be lessened now I know the overall path of the film, the looseness of the film can’t help but feel at times a little too loose, that being said I was never bored.

P.S. This film also makes it so that the most terrifying thing David Gordon Green has given us in the last five years is now this performance rather than the majority of Halloween Kills.

-        -  Thomas Carruthers