‘Hasta los huesos: Bones and All’: Luca Guadagnino gives in to addictions in erratic cannibal romance

The recurring joke that has involved almost from its creation to ‘To the Bones: Bones and All’, the new film by Luca Guadagnino which adapts the homonymous novel by Camille DeAngelis, which is why Armie Hammer (for obvious reasons) hadn’t starred in it. He also started laughing on the AC Milan red carpet, which in the end had to be suspended due to the avalanche of fans that endangered the integrity of the team. What was clear was that the expectation was huge. However, all kinds of jokes were drowned behind the screen, because there was only room in front of the seriousness that comes with talking about first love, the need to find one’s place in the world, and the complications of feeling different.

Guadagnino has talked about all this, which can be framed in the adolescent problem, for almost his entire career. Although he had already been interested in family drama with ‘I am love’ since 2009, it was only in 2015 with ‘Blinded by the Sun’ that the director began to specialize in the construction of suggestive and powerful images, with particular care in portraying teenagers drama and its metaphysics. Two years after will direct what, so far, is undoubtedly his greatest success: “Call me by your name”, the adaptation of the book by André Aciman, in which two fiery lovers, Italian Tuscany and Sufjan Stevens have teamed up to create a artwork. In 2018 ‘Suspiria’ will arrive, a remake as useless as it is masterful of the homonymous horror classic ‘Suspiria’, by Dario Argento; something no one asked for but everyone dazzled (something like Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”).

After making his foray into television with the acclaimed HBO original series, ‘We Are Who We Are,’ Guadagnino dove headfirst into ‘Bones and All,’ written by his regular writer: Dave Kajganich, creator and director of “The Terror”. The plot follows Maren Yearly, (Taylor Russell), a young cannibal (yes, as you read) who, after being abandoned by her father, decides to cross the United States in search of her mother.. Along her way she will meet others like her, capable of hearing and smelling her. Proof of this is the enigmatic and great Sully (tremendous Mark Rylance) or, of course, the wandering tramp Lee (Timothée Chalamet) who falls in love instantly.

A classic and out of step love story

“Bones and All” is a love story, no matter how much blood there is. It’s a romantic movie with all the letters. Maren and Lee embark on a road movie together where they will not stop meeting colorful characters (many of them of the same “species”) who will put their condition as people-eaters to the test. One of them, protagonist of a great scene of tension, is none other than Michael Stuhlbarg (who has already stolen ‘Call me by your name’ as Elio’s father). All these stones in the road will not only test the deep recent relationship both young people are starting to build, but will force them to evaluate their individual journey and face their past. Guadagnino makes use of his great sensitivity when it comes to portraying the latent existential malaise of young peoplethis time in a marginal key: it intends to echo what it means to be young in a world that does not accept you.

On this occasion, the reason why they don’t accept you is quite clear (swallowing the hearts of others), but it doesn’t stop reflecting the problem of addictions. Both Maren and Lee are slaves to their desires. They try to fight against their instincts, to leave that “bad life” to reform and find a healthy way out based on love. Because, once again, this is a deeply romantic film, as it sheds light on lonely and hopeless hearts and bets on love as an element of rupture. The loneliness of the existing is broken when you meet the right person. And maybe one addiction is cured with another.

However, it’s far from a perfect love story. It is rather erratic, with certain ups and downs and with an energetic commitment directed towards a more classic, more passionate love. Though, this time, mixed blood, of course. A poem about eating is established, literally and figuratively, weighed down by a deranged rhythm. And most importantly, it steals screen time from the other genius thing that “Bones and All” possesses: a palpable ferocity in its visuals.

More blood!

Chalamet and Russell is a good story with an interesting premise, which could work effectively without the cannibal component, but this adds a touch of horror, of bloody gore, which season very well what Guadagnino wants to tell and, above all, everything, as you want say it. The Italian director is coming (as did David Cronenberg during his career and, above all, in his latest work: ‘Crimes of the future’) to the mathematics of the flesh, showing without regard the sexy, the sensual, even the sentimental, through dismemberment and biting. Without a doubt, where ‘Bones and All’ shines the brightest is in its terrifying staging. It has several very cleverly constructed scenes of pure terror, with the tension building for several seconds. Guadagnino transfers the world of the novel to the screen, erecting a sort of zombie survival in a cannibal-vampire key. All eyes follow you, they sniff you, everyone is suspicious, and the protagonists have to continue trusting no one, hiding.

To the beat of The Kiss and Joy Division, “Bones and All” becomes a somewhat simplistic metaphor, based on cannibalism, for the saving power of love. It achieves something very difficult, which is to maintain an ode to the most passionate youthful romance while walking on a sea of ​​​​blood and death. But it remains halfway through, with a bittersweet feeling that it could have produced a better text with all the ingredients at hand.

Note: 6

The best: The staging and gore-cannibal survival game.

Worse: The youthful romance ends up being doughy and insubstantial.