A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.
Chuck says:
Essentially “A Portrait of the Chef as a Young Man,” Matt Johnson’s “Tony” looks at the formative years of Anthony Bourdain, the result being an unvarnished look at a troubled teen desperately trying to find his footing. Buoyed by an exceptional cast, the movie winds up telling of a battle for Bourdain’s soul, as he has an angel on one shoulder, a devil on the other and a crossroads before him that will dictate his destiny.
While the young Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) may have lacked direction, he certainly had no shortage where confidence was concerned. Pretentious and condescending, he’s convinced himself, in the spring of 1975, that God has started to notice him, which in his mind makes him a kind of prophet. He tells anyone who will listen that he’ll be getting a fellowship to Vassar and at the beginning of the next school year, he’ll begin writing the next great American novel. What it will be about, he hasn’t quite worked out yet. But that’s not anything to worry about. He’s a genius, so it’ll just come to him!
As with some of the best laid plans of mice and men, things don’t work out as Bourdain hopes. When the fellowship is given to someone else, he goes into a tailspin, unsure of how to progress. On impulse he goes to Provincetown, Massachusetts where he knows a young woman he’s enamored with, Nancy (Emilia Jones) will be spending the summer. When he crosses paths with her, he tells her, as he did his parents, that he’s there to do research and complete his magnum opus during his stay.
And while he’s given no thought as to where he will live or how he’ll support himself, fate plays a hand when he walks into a restaurant called “The Flagship.” He proceeds to get drunk, insult a waitress and get thrown out on his ear. However, the owner, Chef (Antonio Banderas) takes pity on him and gives him a job washing dishes. It’s here that Bourdain’s passion for the culinary arts is born.
While the Bourdain we see here is deplorable, that we can see through his lies and know he’s headed towards a well-deserved day of reckoning makes him just sympathetic enough to hold our interest. Sessa, who impressed in his first film “The Holdovers,” continues to be an actor who commands our attention. There’s a desperate yearning for acceptance in his eyes that gives us an avenue to the lost, immature boy hiding behind the bravado he conveys a bit too earnestly. That you don’t lose interest in Bourdain, despite his boorish behavior, is a tribute to Sessa’s fine work.
The supporting cast is fantastic as well, led by Banderas who brings a quiet gravitas to the mentor role of Chef. Deliberate in his actions and speech, the actor subtly conveys that his character is shouldering a weight born from disappointment and regret. While his experiences inform who he is and will eventually guide Bourdain down the right path, the melancholy Banderas stoically expresses makes him the most human and sympathetic of characters.
He’s countered by Leo Wodall as Sal, the impulsive oyster shucker in Chef’s kitchen, a budding sociopath who tempts Bourdain throughout. Portraying the character as if he were a jostling glass of nitroglycerin, the actor’s edgy approach brings a nervous energy to the film, a sense of the unexpected whenever he’s on screen. Wodall’s charm is effectively subverted by the mischievous gleam in his eye that reveals Sal’s true volatile nature.
Though not given enough screen time, Jones makes the most of her moments, her Nancy a force to be reckoned with. Outspoken, she gives as good as she gets, the actress bringing a degree of sass and strength to the role that makes us understand why Bourdain would go to such lengths to be with her.
Not being an expert on Bourdain, I cannot say how much of this is truth and how much is fiction. While its subject comes off as a lout, he’s at lease a relatable one, which leads me to believe with “Tony,” the legend is what’s been printed. In the end, it doesn’t matter as the lessons contained in this coming-of-age movie are universal – you need to go out and taste the world before you know what you want from it.
3 1/2 Stars
