Maren (Taylor Russell) has lived alone with her father (Andre Holland) since the age of three. Moving around from city to city hiding a secret in her nature. Maren has a compulsion to eat human flesh. 

At the age of eighteen following another incident her father abandons her with some money, her birth certificate and a cassette tape he has recorded explaining what he knows about her. Maren decides to search out the mother she does not remember and buys a bus ticket that will take her as close as she can afford to the town documented as her place of birth. 

On the way she will encounter Sully (Mark Rylance), an experienced “eater” who explains to her that there are others like her and that they have a special sense of smell. And then go on to meet Lee (Timothee Chalamet), another fellow “eater” who she develops a special bond with. 

The result is an example of the classic American road movie but with cannibalism. It is as surreal as it is compelling. The blueprint really feels like Terrence Malick’s 1973 film Badlands with Chalamet and Russell taking on the roles Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek made famous. Except instead of robbing banks they are eating human flesh. 

Perhaps what makes this film so compelling is how real and unreal the world feels at the same time. It is set in 1988 with Ronald Reagan heard on the radio, no mobile phones and a real feeling of the roads they travel on being vast and expansive. Whilst the characters cannibalistic traits felt like something out of a Stephen King novel. There were moments where I was reminded of the recent adaptation of Doctor Sleep and the slightly supernatural powers of the evil found therein. Which makes it even odder to find out that the film was in fact based on a young adult book published in 2015 by Camille DeAngelis. 

The film is graphic in the gore it shows though, something I would not associate with a young adult adaptation. The romance however is exactly what I would expect. The leads are exceptionally good at portraying this young love that feel’s constantly under threat from the perils of their compulsion. Perhaps that is the allegory of the cannibalism storyline? Or perhaps it is there simply because it is so different it makes it hard not to be interested. 

This combination of gore and romance seems perfect for director Luca Guadagnino. His two most recent films being the ridiculously gory Suspiria (2018) remake and the hopelessly romantic Call Me By Your Name. 

The film is littered with idiosyncratic performances that linger in the memory as well. Andre Holland has a beautiful voice and is a great fit for the loving father we hear mostly on tape. Chloe Sevigny conversely has a mostly silent but incredibly chilling cameo. And then there is Michael Stuhlbarg and David Gordon Green (the director of the recent Halloween trilogy) in a glorious double act that really underlines the evil bubbling at the surface in this world. 

Then on top of all of these elements there is the beautiful photography that capitalises on the wide open expanses our characters travel through and a wonderful score from the genius of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (again reminding me of Badlands) and song selection.  When Atmosphere by Joy Division starts to play it hits every emotional note that the film has been aiming for all at once. 

The only drawback in amongst all of this weirdness is there is a moment in the film where it felt as though the plot had run its course. But then another ending was sought after because perhaps that point would have been too quiet a finish. Although as the film has marinated in my mind I have begun to wonder if I was wrong and that the young lovers nature would have resulted in the ending we are given. Regardless the film is one that will stick in your mind along with the exact meaning of that title when it is explained to you. 

Bones and All is quite something.