to the bone it has been repeatedly promoted as a film about a cannibal romance. Although on the surface that description would be correct, deep down it is a film full of nuances and different discourses. Some might find some resistance to its viewing because it is a compilation of genres and intentions. However, its director Luca Guadagnino (call me by your name) knows how to take advantage of all of them to conjure up something unique.
Timothée Chalamet (Dune) and the filmmaker team up again to circle the story of Maren (Taylor Russell), the true protagonist of the story. A young woman who cannot suppress her insatiable desire to consume human flesh. After an altercation with one of her schoolmates, both she and her father (Andre Holland) must flee the state to find a new home where her lives are not in the offing.
The next day Maren wakes up with nothing more than an envelope full of money and a cassette recording where her father confesses that he has abandoned him and that he can no longer take care of her. Left to fend for herself with nothing more than her birth certificate and the name of a mother who fled from her many years ago, the young woman sets out on a journey to find her and better understand her cannibalistic affliction.
The search for her roots leads her down a path in which she meets others like her and in which she learns that she is not the only one. It is a genetic condition that she shares with many other people who, like her, must live in anonymity. She meets everything from a brooding old man named Sully (Mark Rylance), to another “eater” her age named Lee (Chalamet), with whom she makes an immediate connection.
The reason that there is a connection between the two is not only their taste for human flesh. But because in the midst of their youth and growing up experiences, they both yearn for something almost as intense as hunger: acceptance. So to the bone it is a film that evolves into something that goes beyond the theme of cannibalism. In fact, the cannibal element is just a pretext to explore much more powerful human situations.
When the budding romance looms, the film finds its dominant genre. At times it is a coming of age about the novel experiences of the adult world. At other times she is invaded by terror and sequences where Luca Guadagnino does not skimp on blood, gore and graphic violence. However, his greatest virtue is that the Italian director is spirited to understand youth and that adolescent anxiety that transcends any age.
The filmmaker, together with David Kajganich’s script, takes advantage of the road movie to pit the characters against themselves in the middle of the road and open spaces. to the bone it’s a movie about lost characters who can’t find their place. People who yearn to belong to the world of the normalized, but who are anything but normal, without being less valuable for that. The film resonates with all those who have ever felt left out.
The teen romance element is necessary because no stage of life reflects so well what it’s like to feel misfit and lost. Thanks to the treatment of that first love, the film raises its tones to truly poetic moments. Sequences in which the images, the actors’ gestures and small nuances in the soundtrack build a quite evocative narrative atmosphere.
The romanticization of cannibalism does not feel absurd or shocking, because the film manages very well to tell its story and portray its characters. Even the “villain” of the tape is only looking for some company. for what to look to the bone It’s a terrifying experience, yes, but also deeply sad and moving.
With everything and the mixture of elements, Luca Guadagnino achieves a very uniform job when adapting the novel by Camille DeAngelis. Supported above all by the generous performances of Taylor Russell (Waves) and Timothée Chalamet. And for the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross; which break away from their usual musical tone to delve into the true heart of the story. Thus, a few string notes on wood define the romance of Maren and Lee, and transmit that nostalgia that transports us to first love.
In the end to the bone It’s shocking, not because of the gore or the violent elements. But for his mission to make the audience fall in love in the midst of such wild places. It is a film that uses cannibalism to make a deeper reflection on the search and the desire to find a place in the world. A desire as intense as that of belonging, being loved and having the right person with you is almost as intense and dangerous as hunger.
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Luis Angel H. Mora My most stable relationship is with the movies, parties and music. I love writing about cinema, meeting new people and sharing ideas. Idealistic in every way, I guess that’s my Ascendant Aquarian trait.