MOVIE REVIEW: Bones And All

The Midwest is a lovely place and with the trek taken through Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones And All”, the best region of the continental United States can be enjoyed thoroughly in 35mm. As well as the skin pigment anomaly of vitiligo as “Escape Room” actress Taylor Russell can also be ogled all the same as she stars alongside producer Timothee Chalamet as they go through a coming-of-age romance driven by a horror aesthetic focused on what elite Brooklyn MC, Necro, would dub on “The Pre-Fix For Death” album cut “Human Consumption”: “the last taboo”.

I give Taylor Russell credit for starring in horror films that are not covered in the tropes and cliches that could mire her filmography by being apart of a picture that becomes a cult classic for all the wrong reasons; a mistake that many players make at her young age. Russell, has been able to side step these mistakes by being selective in the roles she chooses to take up. I can’t see anyone else in the role of Maren. Francine Marisel did a great job in casting Russell, as well as the rest of the film’s cast, even Chalamet.

I say that with reservation because “Bones And All” has a narrative deeper than the average horror genre plotline, and in that narrative the patience, acceptance, naivete, and ignorance of a young woman in a relationship is all displayed, but these allowances on Maren’s journey are given to a bi-sexual, homeless, Eurocentric hick from Kentucky. And with as much flack as I gave recent films like “Jeepers Creepers Reborn” and “Smile” for putting effeminate Afrocentric males in lead roles, I would have killed to see that here given the fact that I am well informed of the Willie Lynch inspired swirling and divestment movements that have been all the rage for women in the ethnic culture that Russell and this journalist here share a commonwealth in.

Where was the cast that starred in “Moonlight” or “Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul”, or a myriad of other films that pride effeminate afrocentric males? Effeminate and homosexual “black” males exist, my birthplace of Hollywood has made sure to let the world know so where were they here to represent and play love interest opposite Russell? Where are they to play love interest opposite Kiersey Clemons in the upcoming “Flash” film or Quintessa Swindell in “Black Adam”? Why are obviously ethnically mixed Afrocentric women always being cast amongst openly effeminate eurocentric males who are placed in heroic masculine roles?

This was a question that plagued my mind as I found myself disgusted that even though the nostalgic simplicity of the 80’s was captured in “Bones And All” on Kodak, Guadagnino’s film was a stark reminder that the issues that permeated then are still present today :
The nuclear family has been long overdue to be re-evaluated, because “Bones And All” is a reflection that that societal pillar churns out nothing but dysfunction. Family secrets are obsolete. There was once a time when the distortion of history within a bloodline was thought to strengthen family ties, but David Kajganich’s screenplay reveals that vulnerability and fact are stronger than binds based on falsehoods and white lies to enforce relationships and legacies.

“Bones And All” is a two hour trauma bonding experience, and let’s viewers know that even though trauma and abuse are essential to the human experience, in most cases humanity chooses their struggles, abusers, and saviors. The capacity and amount of time humans spend to demonize and martyrise another for doing the exact same actions is truly fascinating and this is seen here throughout Guadagnino’s picture in the case of Chalamet, Rylance and Russell’s characters. Where one kills out of emotion, one does for survival and the last judges which is a better route … and of course chooses the most attractive package.

In Judeo-Christian myth, Samael was always the most beautiful of Yah’s angels … From the deconstruction of the mystification behind romantic relationships that cross ethnic lines, to the willing vilification of even the lowest of Eurocentric males to mythical martyr status in the eyes of so-called “black” women that they do not allot to males of their own ethnicity … to the failings of the traditional Westernized familial structure, to the absurdity of the gender gap, to the fact that though all come from the dirt eventually humans start to mold the plot that they will one day lay in; all of this laid out in the comforting bed of flyover states that deserve more shine than most metropolis’, “Bones And All” is a tough pill to swallow. Guadagnino’s film is a picture filled with bitter truths chased with lovely landscapes and a horror aesthetic to hold over the viewers who thought their significant other was dragging them to “The Notebook”.

Tackling issues faced by today’s youth through a lens rooted in the past, “Bones And All” is the type of film to be savoured, even though it may most likely leave a taste of vinegar in the mouths of departing audiences.

Score : 4/5

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Cinematography: Arseni Khachaturan

Costume design: Giulia Piersanti

Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros. Pictures, Vision Distribution, United Artists Releasing

Based on: Bones & All; by Camille DeAngelis