Bones and All
“You wanna be people? Let’s be people” I’ve been thinking a lot about why this is my favorite movie recently. Some of my friends have watched it and really disliked it, so I’ve been thinking about why it speaks to me. I’m not one for writing incredibly thought out reviews (so bear with me), but I have so many thoughts about this movie and genuinely love its writing (especially in comparison to the book, which I hate!).
For one, I love how Maren is depicted as weird and unusual and how that is completely separate from her identity as a black girl. As a self identified weird black girl, I will never not appreciate that. I feel like we are forced to relate to other black female characters because of their race, even when their character is so unlike ourselves, but with Maren I actually can relate to her and even see her reflected in a lot of my loved ones. I’m tired of stories about black people that are depressing BECAUSE they are black and deal with the struggles that come along with that. In this movie her trauma, hardships, and depressing moments are completely separate from her racial identity and it’s so refreshing. I can see that the reason her race doesn’t pertain to her character is because in the book she is white, but I still love the way it was done & what it represents regardless.
After reading the book I gained so much respect for the way Maren and Lee’s relationship is handled in the movie. Lee’s death was the kill that changed Maren, whereas the book continues after Lee’s death and ends with the killing of some random boy who she met in the library. It makes this movie so much more heartbreaking, which makes it so much more impactful. Also the fact that Lee only wants to die after discovering Kayla is also dead is such a great addition. In both iterations Lee makes it clear that without Kayla he would’ve killed himself, yet in the book she is alive when Lee (without sustaining any life threatening injuries) chooses to have Maren eat him. It makes so much more sense for Lee’s character that when on the brink of death he only accepted death when he realized his reason to live was already gone.
Needless to say I’m also very happy they got rid of that stupid stuff about Sully being Maren’s grandpa.
I also think this movie is so beautifully shot that it almost makes me forget that it’s so gory and disgusting. The choice to have it set in the late 80s rather than late 90s was maybe the greatest decision ever. It allowed this movie to do so much more with the costuming and set design!! + I’m kind of sick of 90s horror, it’s been done a million times over. It’s also so nice to see a modern movie set in the 80s that doesn’t feel like neon vomited over it (can you tell I love the costuming in this movie).
Overall I genuinely just love this story and find it very emotionally compelling. I don’t necessarily need a reason to love this movie, but there are some things that I find so unique and interesting about it that I think should be talked about more!