Film review: Bones and All is a gripping drama with unique star-crossed lovers (they're cannibals)

Taylor Russell (left) as Maren and Timothee Chalamet (right) as Lee 

★★★★☆

Bones and All (18s) isn’t your typical boy-meets-girl teen romance, largely because the girl, Maren (Taylor Russell), is a cannibal abandoned by her long-suffering father, while the boy, Lee (Timothée Chalamet) is – actually, he’s also a cannibal. 

Can these star-crossed lovers find a way to be together that doesn’t always involve feasting on their fellow human beings? 

Adapted from the novel by Camilla DeAngelis, and directed by Luca Guadagnino, Bones and All is a gripping drama in a minor key. 

Timothee Chalamet poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Bones and All' during the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice

Apart from a heightened sense of smell, these characters have no super-powers, and much of the story is concerned with the morality of what they do, and who they are obliged to be. 

Timothée Chalamet puts in a very fine performance as the conflicted, world-weary Lee, and there’s a superb turn from Mark Rylance as Sully, a veteran cannibal who is one of the creepiest characters we’ve seen on screen all year. 

(cinema release)