The following contains spoilers for Bones and All, now in theaters.
Luca Guadagnino's 2022 horror-romance Bones and All chronicles the cross-country road trip that Maren (Taylor Russell) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet) embark on together. The two young adults are bound together through their unusual secret: they're cannibals. But as they journey to find Maren's mother, Maren and Lee fall in love.
And to make this journey even more fascinating, Bones and All is set during the 1980s. The film never stays in one place, going from Virginia to Nebraska to Michigan. But Bones and All's time period is influential for the film's plot, visual style and themes and adds more layers to an already gripping story of love and horror.
Bones and All's Nostalgic Visual Style
Multiple elements of Bones and All work together to place the film in the '80s. The film's use of popular culture, soundtrack and wardrobe all capture Americana in this iconic decade. But perhaps the most important tool used by Guadagnino is cinematography, which takes inspiration from '80s horror and road movies. Guadagnino effortlessly tracks Maren and Lee's cross-country journey with wide shots and dizzying close-ups, bringing the audience into their existence as outsiders of America.
Combined with the dusty landscapes detailing the American Midwest, Bones and All is reminiscent of '80s films like Paris, Texas and horror movies like The Lost Boys. It also captures the pains of growing up and grief in its isolated settings and spacious compositions. Despite this, the film is most tender during the bloody close-ups. It cuts between vacant scenery to intimate moments between Maren and Lee, including their first kiss and when they're consuming flesh. By comparing intimacy and violence, Guadagnino reveals how the two concepts can be interwoven to tell stories about love, trauma and survival.
Cannibalism Is Bones and All's Biggest Symbol
Not quite vampires, not quite zombies -- cannibalism is widely regarded as taboo. While Bones and All doesn't delve into the true backstory of the "eater" inheritance, the film does discuss what it symbolizes. Most prominently, Bones and All's cannibalism represents the outsiders of society. Forced into the margins by their secrets, violence and always-moving lifestyle, Maren and Lee don't have a typical definition of "home." Their urges to eat human flesh make them a target if they stay in one place too long, as does an increasing appetite.
Bones and All takes place during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, which changed the American landscape. The Reagan era was conservative and marked a more regressive American society. The movie uses cannibalism to portray an entire group of people hidden on the fringes of society. By doing this, the film demonstrates how marginalization during the '80s can be illustrated using horror tropes like murder and cannibalism. The cannibalism in Bones and All represents being an outsider in America, and the film's setting provides a cultural and political perspective on the film's meaning.
To see how cannibals lived in the '80s, Bones and All is now playing in theaters.