To the Bone
Director - Marti Noxon
Writer - Marti Noxon
Starring - Lily Collins, Keanu Reeves, Carrie Preston, Lili Taylor, Alex Sharp
"I'm sorry that I'm not a person anymore, I'm a problem."
To the Bone attempts a hard study of eating disorders in (primarily) young women receiving treatment at a group home. It is based on writer-director Marti Noxon's own experiences and largely feels true to life. At other times is feels contrived and quirky in ways that seem like Noxon didn't have the confidence to fully portray a down-to-earth story and instead felt the need to make it "movie-like". It should not be a surprise to say that all of these embellishments fail to be anywhere nearly as effective as the more low-key study on eating disorders and their effects not only on those suffering from them but their families as well.
Ellen (Collins) is the focus of this film. She suffers from anorexia and is bouncing between treatments when the film starts, landing at her father's house being looked after by her stepmother (Preston) and sister (Liana Liberato). While there we start to get a sense of who Ellen is and how unhealthy her home dynamic is. She has a strong relationship with her sister but her father is literally always absent, he mother is living in another state and her stepmother feels like a relic of Reagan's America. Even when trying to be helpful she does so in potentially harmful ways such as buying Ellen a cake decorated like a hamburger with the words "Eat up Ellen" iced on in. Luckily for Ellen a spot has opened up in a group home run by Dr. Beckham (Reeves) that promises unorthodox treatments and a last chance at a normal life.
This unorthodox treatment seems to include the removal of privacy to remove opportunities for purging and a points system in which rewards are earned for being a good girl. And the presence of a collection of indie movie quirks in the form of the one male patient Luke (Sharp). A British ballet dancer from New Jersey recovering from surgery on his knee who's muse is initially Raymond Chandler but then become a celebrity chef who wrote a guidebook on Los Angeles restaurants who is also the outspoken sassy one in the house but he's not actually gay, he's in love with Ellen, he's a fan of her Tumblr page and woos her with one-liners such as "please tell me you're not gay, the male population cannot take another quality defection." Literally nothing I wrote about this character works. He occasionally is effective as Ellen's friend in the house providing a level of comfort for her in her struggles but every time he is used for one of his quirks the movie falters significantly.
Luke being less a character than a collection of indie movie quirks wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem if the film had spent time developing the other patients at the house. The only one who gets any sort of development or arc is Megan (Leslie Bibb) who is pregnant and hopes to carry it to term despite her poor healthy. The four others barely have names or character traits beyond the fact that they suffer from eating disorders. There are quick scenes that pay lip service to developing them but the film really could have put some effort towards these other characters instead of the problem area that was Luke. This lack of development in turn hurts the dynamic of the group home and all attempts to build a sense of camaraderie between the patients. They come across as a group of actors pretending to be friends than a real group of characters bonding over their shared problems. Short Term 12, this is not.
Lily Collins is great though. Ellen is a fully dynamic character and Collins portrays every aspect of her well. From the start of the film where she is basically Juno but skinny instead of pregnant through her struggles with her parents and her developing friendship / romance with Luke as well as her struggles with food and weight, Collins delivers on all counts. Even in the ridiculous climax of the movie which is supposed to represent her rock bottom as a character instead is also the rock bottom of the movie and is such an incredulous scene on paper that it almost had to have been directly inspired by Marti Noxon's struggles because I refuse to believe somebody could come up with that scene between Ellen and her mother (Taylor).
Keanu Reeves delivers what might be his best dramatic performance, forcing out doctorly advice to Ellen even though it's clear he is not comfortable with a role requiring so much speaking. This doctorly advice seems to range from sensible to questionable but even the questionable is seemingly spun to be genius manipulation by the end of the film. Combined with lesbian characters literally fawning over Keanu one gets the feeling that Marti Noxon really liked her doctor. This is perhaps indicative of the large overreaching problem of the film. It feels too ultra-specific. Parts of it play as a PSA against eating disorders but the film also says that the people vulnerable to these diseases would not be receptive to these PSAs so you wonder who the film is for. Is it for survivors of eating disorders like Noxon? While the "realness" is admirable and certainly effective when used the whole movie feels too inclusive. Like a club you can only join if you've suffered through an eating disorder.
Schurmann Score - 6/10
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