To The Bone- Review

Another Netflix Original film, this time exploring eating disorders in seven very different individuals and how far they are and aren't willing to go to help themselves while maintaining the support and drive of others around them.

This film was directed by Martin Noxon and features the talents of Lily Collins, Keanu Reeves and Alex Sharp (just to name a few).

The title gives most of this film away but the lesser known fact is that this movie was based off the directors own battle with an eating disorder. Not only does this film touch on anorexia, but it also explores other eating disorders such as bulimia and binge eating However, I had a few issues with the way this was presented.

It's understandable that this film is hard to watch, particularly for anyone that is overly sensitive to the issue or triggered by it's themes left unhidden. For me, it was hard to watch for a whole different reason. I felt as though they barely explored the eating disorders and rather focussed on irrelevant subjects that may 'cause an eating disorder.' Without even knowing anything about this film, apart from making an educated assumption based off the title, I wanted to watch it because Keanu Reeves had scored a role as the doctor. But even then I wasn't impressed. No one's acting in this film really did it for me and that was really disappointing. Also, it was unclear as to what the director was aiming to create. A comedy, educational film or romance? All these ideas were being tossed out at once and really only reflected on the director and the lost train of thought.

For what this film could have been, it fell incredibly short.

The ideas presented in this film, apart from the obvious concept of eating disorders, are tired. Throughout this entire film I had the nagging reminder of Girl Interrupted. I'd seen it all before. It was also quite contradictory too when you think about it, some parts will reveal this and leave you questioning the point of it all.

Also, let's talk about clichés. This film was full of them and it just seemed to further degrade the importance of dealing with eating disorders and of course the romanticising with references to popular social networking site, Tumblr.

Finally, the best for last, the ending. Such a disappointing and infuriating ending. Yes, it does ultimately show whether someone is willing to help themselves or not while juggling such a tedious mental health issue but not everyone has a happy ending. Not everyone can smile in the face of their disorder and even this ending was unclear with even that as an idea.

I can't express how disappointing this film was and the lack of care and thought that was actually put into it. Sure, the idea of a mental health issue for a film concept could be brilliant and could actually appeal to people but you have to do your research. You also have to understand how you're presenting this issue to people, regardless of whether it is made to offend or not.

Another film perhaps there to satisfy your curiosity but would strongly recommend not bothering with.

2/10.