Review: Bones And All

A new Luca Guadagnino film should never be ignored. You always get amazing looking films from him and his team. But it is the way he tells his stories that for me walks a fine line about whether it's the complete package or not.

There is always this sense of spectacle. But the pacing of the story is usually delicate and gentle and I feel it doesn't always fully work.

This latest project is kind of the same. But there is something here to be admired. 

It starts off by giving you enough of an appetiser of where we're going with this and how violent it's going to get.

I liked at how it softly pulls you in with its coming-of-age story and then in sudden bursts we get brutal violence that makes you see why it has been given an 18 certificate. That weird mixture I think worked for the most part. 

There are some cool and bizarrely interesting individual scenes that build up the tension. Plus the ideas of coming-of-age and having the brutal violence be a metaphor for addiction was perfectly fine. But I was still waiting for something else to make me see what all the fuss was about from the major festivals.

Taylor Russell did a really good job in this. I remember first seeing her in 'Waves' a few years ago and she has gone from strength and strength. The performance is effectively subtle. But there was a natural vibe to her that will make it easy for the viewer to be confident in her carrying this story.

Timothee Chalamet is great as always and was effective support for Russell. Mark Rylance was at his most creepy as was Michael Suthlbarg and David Gordon Green in their one scene in this film.

I'm not sure what to think of this one. Like with all Guadagnino films, you can see the craft and it has to be appreciated. The story is interesting, I never knew what to expect next, Russell and Chalamet work well together and there are some effectively creepy and gross moments. It's atmospheric and the imagery and sound design really transports you to its locations. You can feel the dirt, blood, dust and even smell.

But I still felt that something was lacking. It didn't have the emotional impact that I feel it should have. It goes along at a gentle pace and it tells the story at that speed throughout. I think it just needed a bit of punch to make it more than just good, because that's what it is.

Doing that I think would have not make it drag at times and give it some energy. The potential is there for something great and I still would recommend it as it has its strengths in particular aspects. But it's not the masterpiece that some have labelled it during its festival run.

To be honest, a better version of this is 2016's 'Raw'. It has similar themes of coming-of-age. But it has much more depth, the violence has more meaning to it and explores its themes better in a shorter runtime.

Rating: 7/10