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Following his acclaimed comedies BlackBerry and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, writer/director Matt Johnson demonstrates real distinction in tackling the formative years of celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain in Tony.
A smart, surprisingly intimate portrait, Tony is an effective biopic largely because it doesn’t feel like one.
‘Tony’, A Biopic Worth Its Salt
As a genre, the biopic is a notoriously tricky recipe to get right, and Johnson renders it with real finesse. Audiences moonwalked to Michael to relive his masterful music and were willing to overlook some obvious glorification in the process. That can hardly be said for Bourdain’s story, which begins with a quote from his raw 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.
“I was, to be frank, a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass kicking.”
Food for Thought
Leaving the traditional cradle-to-fame biopic behind, Johnson wisely isolates one formative summer in 1975, when 19-year-old Tony Bourdain (played by The Holdovers star Dominic Sessa) follows his high school crush Nancy (Emilia Jones) to Cape Cod’s Provincetown. Broke and discouraged, he ends up washing dishes in the chaotic kitchen of a local dive, crewed by a motley band of culinary pirates. Ambitious, intelligent, and reckless, Tony proves a bit of a Marty Supreme and a mesmerising presence.
The Secret Ingredients
Having first caught Johnson’s attention in The Holdovers, Sessa proves an inspired casting, infusing Tony with the kind of vulnerability and inner life that’s hard to ignore.
The immediacy of Johnson’s documentary style of filmmaking puts us squarely in Tony’s shoes and into the sweaty, competitive surroundings where he first discovers how food connects people.
Setting the Table
This is the kind of film you can practically smell. There’s something really comforting about watching food on film, and Tony understands that its appeal is about more than what’s on the plate.
Food is the excuse that brings all these misfits together, a fitting beginning for the man who would eventually make a career out of sitting down with strangers.
On the Side
Antonio Banderas is particularly good as ‘Chef’, who becomes a crucial father figure to Tony and recognises his potential before Tony does. It’s a great reminder of what an excellent actor Banderas is, when given the chance. Let’s hope he’s remembered come Oscar season.
Leo Woodall is equally impressive as the smarmy Sal, who collects notches of wood from the bedroom doors of his conquests. Bolstered by an evocative score and a terrific soundtrack, Tony also manages to find a lived-in 1970s spirit without falling into the trap of becoming a stylised recreation.
Before Bourdain
Tony isn’t really interested in explaining Anthony Bourdain or dwelling on his passing. Instead, Johnson leads a hopeful look at a young man discovering who he’s meant to be.
Given that much of the audience knows how Tony’s story ends, it’s a real achievement to make us care so deeply about where it began.
Four Stars ★★★★ | Tony is in cinemas now
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