Luca Guadagnino’s new BONES AND ALL follows a pair of young people on a killing spree across America, which put us in mind of lovers-on-the-lam movies generally and Terrence Malick’s debut feature BADLANDS specifically. But Guadagnino’s film resists such easy classification, from its questionable status as a cannibal romance to its malleable central metaphor. So this week we gnaw on BONES AND ALL’s blood-soaked nuance, before pairing it with BADLANDS to consider how the two films deploy their voiceover narration, charismatic killers, and rationalizations for violence. And in Your Next Picture Show, we offer up a buffet of other cannibalism stories from across pop culture that have stuck with us.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BADLANDS, BONES AND ALL, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], leaving a short voicemail at 773-234-9730, or commenting on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes and more. 

Outro music: “Lick It Up” by Kiss

Next pairing: Herbert Ross’s THE LAST OF SHEILA and Rian Johnson’s GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY 

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