Bones and All

Abandoned by her father, a young woman travels through the backcountry of America to discover who she is and where she belongs. Along the way she crosses paths with Lee, a lonely drifter with a rough past and a wary heart. The two form a fragile connection even as they each guard dangerous secrets about themselves. Their road ahead is lined with risks and tight moments, as memories from the past keep pulling them off course. Set against a landscape of empty towns and nocturnal hunger, their bond is tested by forces that threaten to expose what makes them different and vulnerable. It lingers in memory long after the credits.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Bones and All adapts Camille DeAngelis's novel with a screenplay by David Kajganich. The film stars Taylor Russell as Maren and Timothée Chalamet as Lee, released in 2022. It premiered at Venice. It favors tactile texture.

Critics praised the film's patient pacing and the unusual blend of romance with physical horror, highlighting Guadagnino's confident visual storytelling and the performances of Russell and Chalamet. The drama navigates loneliness and family estrangement while suggesting love can endure amid stigma, danger, and moral ambiguity. For modern romance with danger.

Its combination of appetite symbolism and road movie aesthetics influenced later genre conversations and picked up attention in festival circles. Audiences recalled the unlikely pairing of Maren and Lee and the film's willingness to treat desire as a powerful, sometimes perilous force. It resonated with viewers seeking complexity over thrills.

While not a sweep at major ceremonies, Bones and All drew festival attention and earned nominations at several awards for acting and direction. Critics highlighted the duo's chemistry and Guadagnino's distinctive approach to horror and romance, making it a memorable entry in contemporary genre cinema that lingers in cinephile discussions.