Tony Review

Anthony Bourdain is one of America’s most famous and celebrated chefs. His life in 1975 and early career were the inspiration for the biopic Tony.

Anthony “Tony” Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) is an arrogant and entitled student at Vassar College. He lies to his family that he got a writing fellowship, and he runs off to Provincetown so he can follow Nancy (Emilia Jones), who’s working there for the summer. Tony ends up crossing the ‘Chef’ (Antonio Banderas), the owner of the Flagship restaurant, and the foreign restaurateur takes the young man under his wing.

As a Brit, I am unfamiliar with Anthony Bourdain. I know he’s a celebrated chef, but my only cultural reference point is a guest appearance in The Simpsons. I’ve probably come across other references in American pop culture but can’t think of them, or they went over my head. Jean Henegan gave the 2021 documentary a positive review. Even for someone with little knowledge about Bourdain, it worked as a coming-of-age story.

Tony opened with a quote from Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential: “I was — to be frank — a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, and badly in need of a good ass-kicking.” Sessa’s performance lived up to that description because Tony was a repulsive character. The prologue showed Tony lying to the panel at Vassar College, thinking he got the fellowship, and stealing from his dad so he could go to Cape Cod. Tony was arrogant and pretentious with a sense of entitlement, and a bullshit artist because he would keep lying until he was caught out. Tony was similar to the main character in another A24 film, Marty Supreme. Both were unpleasant characters who had a fake it till you make it attitude and were forced to grow up because of their hardships.

Tony also had some similarities to the lead character in The Holdovers, Sessa’s debut role. Both films were about young, arrogant characters who were taken under the wing of experienced mentors who were hard but fair. Tony had fewer redeeming characteristics than Angus in The Holdovers, but his journey was about learning honesty and humility.

Tony was filled with talent. Sessa’s Tony was a wannabe who lost his temper too easily, and his rough edges suffered over time. Banderas was great playing a father/teacher figure who teaches Tony about the restaurant business and life in general. They both grow to care for each other, and Tony develops a passion for food. They gave the film its beating heart. Tony had standard character arcs and plot points, but the filmmakers followed the recipe well.

Whilst Banderas’ Chef was a gentler figure, the kitchen was made up of macho figures who would bully and belittle the young man. Tony literally had to develop a tougher skin to survive in the kitchen. The most notable character was Sal (Leo Woodall), an older chef who acted as a warning sign because he was also a hard-drinking hothead who got into fights or looked for casual sex. He was the dark side to Banderas’ light, a corrupting older brother figure. Sal used illicit substances to stay alert in the kitchen, which added the issue of substance abuse in the restaurant business in the film. The dialogue, interactions, and performance between the chefs felt natural: I’ve worked in some laddish environments, and it felt close to my experiences. It made Tony feel a bit more real.

Tony was directed by Canadian filmmaker Matt Johnson, who was making his American feature film debut. One of his previous films was the biopic BlackBerry. It was an excellent film that showed Research in Motion (RIM) at three important stages. Tony was a different type of biopic because it was a concentrated piece. It was a focused piece that told its story in 105 minutes. Johnson shows he’s a talented filmmaker because he could make two wildly different biopics and both have been strong films.