Tony Turns Young Anthony Bourdain Into a Warm, Scrappy 1970s Coming-of-Age Tale

In the past couple of years, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has become a bit of an online legend, sprouting viral clips and quotes that have been rediscovered and recontextualised since Bourdain’s passing in 2018. The pertinence Bourdain has been able to hold in the current zeitgeist made it only a matter of time until he too would be graced by a posthumous biopic. In steps Matt Johnson, recently coming off his independent comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, and trading in guerrilla filmmaking chaos for a more tender project depicting the early years of a young Anthony Bourdain who isn’t yet a chef nor a writer but yearns for a purpose. Tony decides not to cover the life of a man who has done many things but to portray a very specific moment in a man’s life, in this case one summer in Provincetown 1975.

Dominic Sessa had his acting breakout as Angus Tully in Alexander Payne’s 2023 hit The Holdovers, Sessa transfers those moody looks and chip on his shoulder as Tully to give an excellent performance as a young Bourdain. A young actor with great skill in showing his grungy side as much as his sentimental side, it almost seems the perfect fit for the persona Anthony Bourdain cultivated throughout his writing and his work in television. Sessa is one part funny and one part tragic, not trying to perfectly represent the real life man but trying to make a merging of actor and role. Antonio Banderas portrays the chef who quickly becomes young Bourdain’s confidante.

An amalgam of real life characters from Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, Banderas truly is the giant heart of this film, a warm presence whose mystery isn’t sinister or intriguing but rather endearing. Banderas adds a needed sweetness to the cast when pictured alongside the rough around the edges kitchen crew of culinary degenerates Tony gets involved with. A particular highlight is Leo Woodall who thoroughly impressed earlier this year in Tuner and continues that trend with a brash and almost antagonistic performance as Sal. Sal plays the interesting role of both bad influence and role model for Tony and Woodall pulls it off with a spin on the charismatic rogue, one that leaves the viewer swaying between liking him and detesting him. Also notable in the cast are Stavros Halkias who transfers his comedy roots into the film as the witty Dimitri and Emilia Jones whose strong performance is expertly crafted to bring the hopeless romantic elements out of Sessa’s Tony.

The trend of the biopic in modern filmmaking is hitting its period of ebbs and flows, with the exhaustion of this subgenre comes the need for a different take, a different interpretation, and Matt Johnson has done just that. Instead of approaching Anthony Bourdain’s life as a complete story to be told, Johnson instead takes a chapter from Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential and produces a film that is self-contained while still trying to achieve the essence of the life Bourdain lived.

Possibly Tony’s greatest strength is that it can stand alone as a film in and of itself, inspired by coming of age films and the lowkey character studies that rose in popularity during the time the film is set. Matt Johnson doesn’t neuter himself to make sure to wink and nudge at the audience for what will become of Anthony Bourdain’s life but instead focuses on the young man at the heart of his film, the conflicts he surrounds himself with and the food he comes to love.

Tony, put plainly, is a good time, small in scale but big at heart, Johnson and his cast create a likable film that honours the life of Anthony Bourdain while still tackling themes of its own. Sessa and Woodall show why they’re actors on the rise and Matt Johnson shows he can trade in his shaky DIY cinema for more traditional techniques without losing his quirks. Tony is a film about purpose and youth, one where the production does well to create a 1970s Bildungsroman with edge that cuts like a knife and a warmth that would melt butter.

Tony is in UK cinemas now, and EyeOnLondon reckons Sessa and Woodall are worth watching well beyond this one.

For more London arts and culture, visit EyeOnLondon at eye-on-london.com.

[Image Credits | IMDB]

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