Part morality tale, part genre film, Jean-Charles Hue's Eat Your Bones tells the story of Jason Dorkel, an 18-year-old, who lives among a community of gypsies in Northern France. Preparing for his baptism, Jason finds his world flipped upside down when his half-brother Fred returns home after spending 15 years in prison. Idolizing his big brother, Jason wants to spend more time with Fred, leading the two of them to set off together, with their other brother, the hot-headed Michael, and their Christian activist cousin, to steal a truckload of copper, although things go dramatically wrong along the way. Focusing on forgotten and underprivileged group of outcasts living in Northern France, Eat Your Bones is a story about personal responsibility, as the main protagonist Jason finds himself confronted by his older brother's harsh way of life. Fred is a character who views his criminal actions as an act of necessity, blaming everyone but himself for his criminal actions. Jason values Fred's overall demeanor, though through this fateful night he begins to find see his worldview shattered as he becomes face to face with the true consequences of living the gangster lifestyle. Eat Your Bones is a film that understands to importance of defining the world its characters inhabit, taking its time in relaying the setting of its characters to its audience in a way that only helps the viewer understand the circumstances of its characters. A film about the shattering of innocence, Eat Your Bones is a beautifully photographed film with a great sense of visual poetry, and as soon as Fred shows up, there is an impending sense of dread centered around the narrative, with Jason whole-hardheartedly confiding in his brother. Jason completely trusts Fred's decision-making, though as the film progresses and the dangers escalate, the audience begins to question how Fred could even let his younger brother into such dangerous circumstances. The film's heavy use of orange and yellow creates a sense of warmth, with the visceral energy of the color palette visually expressing Jason's psyche, a character who finds sense of warmth and comfort around his big brother. Featuring an utterly unique story of personal responsibility that blends character drama and genre filmmaking, Eat Your Bones is a poetically told coming of age story like very few before it.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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