Last night I headed to SIFF Cinema Uptown for Tony, Matt Johnson’s new film about a very young Anthony Bourdain, long before the books, television shows, international travel, and legendary career. Dominic Sessa plays 19-year-old Bourdain, who heads to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen. What follows is less a traditional biopic than a coming-of-age story about a restless young man who hasn’t figured himself out yet. And honestly, that’s what makes it work. There’s something fascinating about watching a person before they become the person everyone remembers. Bourdain’s later voice is so distinctive that it’s easy to forget there was a time when he was simply a young guy with plenty of attitude, insecurity, bad decisions, and absolutely no idea where his life was headed. Sessa captures that beautifully. He’s cocky, funny, difficult, vulnerable, and occasionally a complete pain in the ass. In other words, he feels like an actual 19-year-old rather than a polished movie version of a future celebrity.
The restaurant kitchen becomes the place where all of that starts to change. It’s chaotic, exhausting, competitive, occasionally brutal, and filled with people who aren’t particularly interested in protecting Tony’s ego. Antonio Banderas brings plenty of charisma as the chef who becomes an important mentor, while the ensemble gives the kitchen a wonderfully lived-in feeling. What I particularly enjoyed is that the film doesn’t try to turn Bourdain into a saint. It lets him be messy. That’s important. The young man we see here isn’t yet the thoughtful traveler who would eventually invite millions of people to see the world differently. He’s still figuring out what he’s good at, what he cares about, and what kind of person he wants to become. Sometimes finding your direction doesn’t happen because someone gives you a grand plan. Sometimes you just stumble into the right kitchen.
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