The story veers sharply between being deeply tragic, romantic and intensely violent. Bones and All (2023) is a completely barbaric depiction of cannibalism and love which can be utterly vile at times. Despite the subject matter being overtly taboo and unconventional, this film had a warmth to it which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks to its casting choices, the characters were the centre of this movie, I continued watching because I was investing in their journeys and development rather than the overall narrative of the feature.
For any horror lover this is a great display of compelling story writing, combining horror with young love which works surprisingly well. It is rare that a film described as a romantic horror actually has both elements but Bones and All (2023) truly did incorporate and represent both genres equally, it was horrific and endearing. I will say the stand out role was Timothee Chalamet’s, he brought a sense of arrogance and vulnerability to his character Lee which I found to be very engaging to watch.
This film was overall a win for me but I have to comment on the length of this film, I found it to be far too long of a run time. This set the pace of at times and made the action feel a little overdrawn. If this film was half the length it could have been a lot easier to watch and ha more action around every corner.
Their relationship was rushed, the two lead characters (which were performed to perfection) seemed to bond instantaneously with little to no development. The story then revolved around their relationship which seems too fresh and immature to warrant these events.
I enjoyed that the film was dark and eery from the very beginning, throwing us into the deeply strange and disturbing life of Maren instantaneously. There was no time to waste but after the intense opening scene the film flat lined for a while, although Mark Rylance’s character Sully was beyond engaging and sparked my curiosity, he wasn’t featured in the movie enough. Rylance is a golden actor, he performed Sully with a creepy yet adorable presence on screen. Each time he arrived the whole tone of the movie changed and he was the catalyst of complete chaos; I would have loved to see more of him throughout.
Comments