BONES AND ALL

US, 2022, 131 minutes, Colour.

Taylor Russell, Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Kendall Coffey, Andre Holland, Sean Bridgers, David Gordon Green, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jessica Harper, Chloe Sevigny.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino.

The title does give an indication to the themes of this drama, road film across the United States, themes of a young couple finding each other, dependent on each other. Emphasis on the Bones in the title.

Many audiences will be drawn to this film by the name of the director. He has had it had a strong reputation for dramas in his native Italy and then made an impact, internationally, with his emotional drama, Call Me by Your Name. And his star, the young actor Timothee Chalamet, emerged into greater prominence and significant lead roles, especially Dune.

But, audiences attracted by the name of the director but knowing little about the film and its themes, probably should be aware of the focus on cannibalism. The theme and some of the cannibal sequences, blood, bones and all, can be, an appropriate play on words, distasteful.

The focus is on a teenager, Maren (played by the strong young actress, Taylor Russell, Words on Bathroom Walls), initially feeling her hunger pangs which surface infrequently as she does her ordinary living. Her father, concerned, leaves and bequeathes to her her mother’s birth certificate. In Maren’s quest to find her mother, her journey takes her from Maryland to Minnesota.

To develop the eeriness of the theme, the writers introduce a bizarre character, Sully (a sinister and striking performance from Mark Rylance), revealing that the Feeders, have a powerful sense of smell and can discover and find fellow-Feeders. Sully helps Maren that she is wary of him – and, later he will appear in the film, following her, seeking her out, and sinister.

However, much of the film takes on the conventions of teenagers finding each other, friends and companions, falling in love. Maren is able to scent Lee (Timothee Chalamet) and we accompany them on their adventures, encounter with two strange policemen, one a Feeder, the other dependent on him, a man who runs a stall at a fair, which leads them deeper into the trap of cannibalism that is their lives, outsiders, outside the law, yet feeling the need to settle.

Maren is able to find some explanations, finding her grandmother (Jessica Harper), getting information about her mother (Chloe Sevigny), pursued by Sully,, finally finding some peace and the possibility of settling with Lee. But, given their condition, given society, given their needs and consequent action, can they survive? No definite answers here, for us to work out what we think and feel.

1. Response to the title? Themes of cannibalism? Inbuilt craving? Addiction?
2. The American setting, the period, the 1980s, costumes and decor, vehicles? Authentic feel? The musical score?
3. Audience response to the theme? Reality? Psychological realities? An affliction? Craving? Possibility of cure?
4. The director and his work, the young cast, Mark Rylance? The veteran women actors?
5. The introduction to Maren, school, the other girls, bonds, the sudden craving and eating? At home, her mother absent? Her father and his concern, protecting her, leaving? The birth certificate and the beginning of her quest?
6. The character of Maren, her age, past experiences, understanding herself or not, the craving? Her decision to go on the quest? For explanations?
7. The film as a road movie, from Maryland across to Minnesota, the various stops, states, terrains? Travel by bus, car?
8. The encounter with Sully, his approaching her, his age, manner, eccentric, the touch of the sinister, offering to help, his apartment, the shared reflections on the cravings, the victim, the body, the blood, eating? Maren and her reactions, suspicions of Sully, getting away?
9. The further travels, the encounter with the policeman, their friendship, discussions, the bond between them, the cravings? Her getting away from them? Later seeing them as police?
10. The encounter with Lee, the craving, the ability to smell out other cannibals? His age, personality, his family and leaving them, the bond with his sister? On the road? Seeking out victims? The encounters with Maren, conversation, company, sharing?
11. The episode at the fair, the shooting gallery, the man, gay attraction, the confrontation with Lee, his death? The revelation that he was a married man? Police investigations?
12. Lee and Maren, the bond between them, on the road? Travel, cars, encounters?
13. Maren, going to the family home, the encounter with her grandmother, the birth certificate, the information, the adoption, the situation with the cravings, her mother still alive, in the institution?
14. The visit to the institution, the authorities, her mother, her manner, behaviour, fears, reaction to Maren? Maren’s response?
15. The further encounter with Sully, his following Maren, stalking her? His behaviour, his sinister character emerging? The confrontation with Maren and Lee?
16. Maren and Lee settling down, college, studies, the apartment? Yet the cravings? And the victims?
17. The story seen as realism, as allegory for young adults and cravings?