Venice 2022: Bones and All Review

Shy cannibals make for a strange and provocative piece from director Luca Guadagnino. Bones and All takes an unexpected moral step, with regret bleeding into torn flesh and skin. Taylor Russell’s understanding of the prose on hand is just as important as her portrayal of Maren Yearly, a begrudging cannibal attempting to understand her need to feed. A desire to figure it all out is at the heart of Maren’s journey, but it is up to Guadagnino to show restraint in his storytelling. An adaptation that comes through as far removed from the text it hopes to understand – Bones and All may as well be its own, unique piece that muses not on veganism but on the freaks at the feast, those looking for their individuality with the cards stacked against them.

In doing that, Guadagnino prepares a littering of graphic horror elements. They are as bloody and real as the feelings Yearly has for her condition. Is it a condition? Bones and All never reveals the inner workings, just the outcome. An explanation would be futile for Maren, whose mannerisms are like a polite infected member of the 28 Days Later population. Instead, the campfire cannibal chats between Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and Yearly provide ample qualities that describe conditional impact and outcome, not cause or correlation. Their need to feed is opened well with a lingering, brief commentary from Mark Rylance, who sets out such few details that they too may as well be shrouded in mystery. But they are enough to cling to, Guadagnino has given enough detail to hold onto. To hope for more is understandable, but impossible.

Rylance, with a button-clad lapel and a Foghorn Leghorn accent, provides a haunting rendition of what could happen to Chalamet and Russell. His whispered, whistling voice and provocations are lingering despite his few sightings throughout. Rylance finds a love for the role, a challenging performance that provides some clarity to the chilling moments Chalamet attempts to bring to the table. His performance is impossible to remove from this blur of Martin Sheen’s work on Badlands. A whiny and troubled character whose conditions and issues never transcend how entitled he appears. Chalamet’s work is fine enough, but it is Russell who steals the show and uses the ample work Chalamet provides as a base for her own soul-searching performance. Michael Stuhlbarg provides a brief and exceedingly creepy role too. Surplus to requirement? Maybe so.

But that is Guadagnino in motion. It would not be enough to adapt, he must overcome. So much to change and so many variables to experiment with. Acoustic tracks lingering underneath horrific details. A cannibalistic cameo from Chloë Sevigny amps up the horror inevitably tied into Bones and All, which is both sparing and overwhelming with its relation to the horror atmosphere. Guadagnino attempts to rely on technical flashes and keen wordplay to build tension, but they feel bloated and move away from the thriller at the core of this. Is there a thrill in going bones and all? His adaptation and cast move toward the mental strain of coming to terms with beliefs and needs out of our control, why does his direction not follow suit? Bones and All is a functional piece that has infrequent, spotty moments to it.