Sundance 2017 Review: To The Bone

To read more coverage of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, go here.

By Andrea Thompson

Eating disorders can be a difficult subject for movies. Problems that mostly pertain to women don’t seem to be taken as seriously in general, and this is an issue most assume has an easy cure. Why don’t they just…you know, eat? To the Bone doesn’t provide an answer, and doesn’t really want to. What it does provide is a portrait of someone whose very life depends on her ability to overcome her anorexia, and it’s a surprisingly compelling one.

Ellen (Lily Collins) is barely out of her teens, but she’s been anorexic for years, and it’s taken such a toll on her body that she’s running short on time to get healthy. She’s been hospitalized several times, and each time she’s failed to improve. So the unconventional clinic run by Keanu Reeves (who makes the most of getting some of the film’s best lines) will probably be what makes her or breaks her. She’ll either get better, or she’ll die. More...