By Hannah Strong
Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino's career has been defined by his interest in portraying desire and despair, from the tragic love story of I Am Love (2009) through to the coming-of-age teen drama in his HBO miniseries We Are Who We Are (2020). His latest romance, Bones and All, is no exception, charting the relationship that forms between two young drifters who meet in middle America, bonding over their shared appetite for human flesh. Given the visceral nature of Guadagnino's previous film – his 2018 remake of Suspiria – it’s no surprise that he has an eye for the macabre, and if anyone can make cannibalism seem even remotely romantic, it’s the man behind Call Me By Your Name (2017).
Wistful loners Maren (Taylor Russell) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet) must contend with abandonment, creepy strangers and a lack of funds as they journey across the country in search of Maren’s estranged mother, quickly falling for one another as they develop a mutual understanding of what it means to live on the fringes of society. But cannibalism has repulsed and fascinated cinema audiences for decades now – a taboo we seemingly just can’t help sinking our teeth into.
