Movie Diary 12/26/2022

Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino, 2022). With the notable exception of Call Me by Your Name, this director makes silly films, and this is a silly film. Taylor Russell and Timothee Chalamet touchingly execute the cannibal love story, and the film’s first bite is an effective shocker. The film’s cross-USA road tripping might be Guadagnino’s stab at creating some kind of Lolita vibe, I guess, but without much oomph. The shortfall here can be measured by what goes on with Mark Rylance’s character, a narrative construct who exists because of the needs of, well, narrative. (How interesting it would have been to have his older, experienced cannibal disappear after a certain point.) And it says something that Rylance, one of the world’s greatest actors, gives a busy performance that tips well into hambone territory.