Director: Matt Johnson
Cast: Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Dominczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, Antonio Banderas
Screenplay: Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller
106 mins. Rated R for pervasive language, drug use, and sexual content/nudity.

In our lifetimes, there are few more complex personalities than that of Anthony Bourdain, and anyone who has read Kitchen Confidential or seen even a few episodes of Parts Unknown can agree to that. I didn’t have much knowledge of the writer, chef, and cultural personality until seeing the documentary Roadrunner, but I found Bourdain to a be a frustratingly fascinating human being who, at times, in his own words, was “badly in need of a good ass-kicking.” His worldview was interesting, and through the lens of director Matt Johnson (BlackBerry) and a phenomenal performance from Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers), have shed more light on the man/myth/legend.

Set in 1975, a young Tony Bourdain (Sessa) is brimming with excitement. He’s just won a writing fellowship (or at least he thinks he did), a chance encounter leads him to an old high school crush, and he’s about to move out and start his summer and a new life while working on his brilliant novel. Well, that doesn’t quite happen, and when he learns that he will not win the fellowship and he has to admit to his family that he failed, he leaves for Provincetown to see the girl he can’t stop thinking about. Along the way, he quickly runs out of money and gets a job washing dishes for the Flagship restaurant where a brilliant Chef (Antonio Banderas, Shrek 2) awakens a newfound love of food and kitchen culture.

Dominic Sessa is absolutely revelatory as the late Anthony Bourdain. His mannerisms, speech patterns, and expressive tics are all adopted and performed to perfection in one of the best performances of the year. He isn’t exactly the type of performer I’d have pegged for the role, but director Matt Johnson has a skill with unusual casting choices, having previously placed Glenn Howerton front and center for BlackBerry investor Jim Balsillie in a notable departure for the actor. The scenes between Sessa and Banderas are electrifying, some of the best acting moments of the year.

Johnson placed the film within the framework of a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age-styled story, by having Bourdain acknowledge such in the opening scene and then go about creating one of his own. With shades of summertime tales of growth like Adventureland, Johnson gives us a main character who has “main character syndrome” but is also worth following through this evolution. This evolution happens through a relationship with food and a mentor who isn’t willing to put up with any shit. Johnson carefully avoids a possibly saccharine situation by always placing the connection to food within a state of “food-as-communication” where the shared experience of tasting a meal together brings us closer or, in Tony’s case, crafting a meal for someone creates that connection. We’re all connected by the food we eat and share, whether that communication is “extraordinary” or “ Oh my God” or “Jesus fucking Christ” (but don’t say that in front of Chef).

Tony is Dominic Sessa’s film, he owns every scene, and he is what I’ll most be praising at the end of the year, but this coming-of-age story is laced with an interesting and dynamic lead character, a wonderful group of supporting players, and a screenplay that is rich in its dialogue and excels in its simplicity, reveling in the moments more than the collective journey. I’d love to see Sessa return to the role every few years and continue adapting elements of Bourdain’s fascinating life.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe