BONES AND ALL

From the spot-on eighties recreation to a wonderfully eclectic musical score and the exquisite direction of Luca Guadagnino, Bones and All hardly puts a foot wrong.

It is rare for a movie to ace a tone and style that perfectly fits the tale from the very first minute. Even rarer are films that sustain this throughout its entire runtime. So it speaks volumes about Bones and All that Luca Guadagnino pulls off the trick, especially when you realise that the unusual lead characters are teens with an unquenchable apatite for human flesh.

From the spot-on eighties recreation to a wonderfully eclectic musical score by Trent Raznor and Atticus Ross and the exquisite direction of Guadagnino, Bones and All hardly puts a foot wrong. Add a cast that includes the best Timothée Chalamet performance since Call Me By Your Name, an against-type Mark Rylance and especially the young Taylor Russell, who is a true revelation, and you have a movie that hits a lot of right notes.

The fact that I don't rate it a little higher are only due to a screenplay that is a bit too episodic for comfort and relies on a lot of contrivances, especially in the way the protagonists all too easily run into likeminded souls on their memorable roadtrip.

release: 2022

director: Luca Guadagnino

starring: Thimothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance