Tony
"I was, to be frank, a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout and badly in need of a good ass-kicking."
So begins the opening frame of TONY with Anthony Bourdain's description of his 19-year-old self.
The biographical film that follows plunges us into the summer of 1975, with the young, overly confident Bourdain bullshitting his way through a pitch to a college committee, his parents at home and every young woman within range.
By carving out a tale that takes place only that long summer, we ride along with Tony on one of the most pivotal times of his life.
Dominic Sessa, who arrived on the big screen with his incredible performance as student Angus Tully in "The Holdovers" in 2023, finds his next great role as Bourdain. Cocky, damaged, fully in self-destructive discovery mode, his Tony is winging life by the seat of his pants.
Morality and playing by the rules are not Tony's strong suits. He doesn't mind stealing money from his parents, but draws a semi-line at breaking and entering. Beer and alcohol are his habits of choice, but other drugs are certainly on his menu.
It's not easy to portray someone who's this much of a selfish a-hole and build a movie around him. But Director Matt Johnson (Blackberry) and fellow screenwriters Todd Bartels & Lou Howe deliver a compelling, propulsive tale, following Bourdain as he circles ever lower circles of living in his quest for what's ahead.
Young Bourdain wants to be a writer, but treats any path to success with the callous disregard that only the blind confidence of youth can muster. Tony heads to Provincetown for the summer because a girl that he's had a crush on since high school says she'll be there for the summer. That girl, Nancy, played by a stunning and perfectly cast Emilia Jones (The Running Man, Coda) says it almost as an aside, but Tony sees that prompt as his holy grail, the sign he's been waiting for.
Seeing her becomes his driving quest.
As Tony stumbles his drunken, broke way through Provincetown, he crosses paths with the Chef of a local beachside restaurant, played by Antonio Banderas (Evita, The Mask of Zorro). The Chef's standards are high, incredibly structured, more suited to a Michelin star restaurant than a seaside seafood shack. After throwing Tony out for drunken passes at his bartender, Chef gives him a hammock on his home's patio to crash on.
What forms is an unlikely mentorship.
Chef sees something in Tony that Tony doesn't even recognize in himself.
Banderas is excellent as the Chef with secrets of his own. He's deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the role, slipping into the deep thinking, quiet man who rules with precision, but seems to take in those who no one else wants. Tony certainly falls into that category. Banderas constructs a complex man with a serious past, wearing it on his face and in his subtle mannerisms with his hard scrabble team. He's fantastic.
Leo Woodall, who's been so great recently in "Tuner" and "Nuremberg" strikes gold yet again as Sal, Chef's lead assistant. He's got little time for Tony at first, but eventually becomes a major player in his life. Woodall is terrific at oozing charm and confidence, masking a flawed young man buried in addiction.
Watching all these people come into play in this one formative summer in Bourdain's young life serves up a fantastic meal of drama, laughter, tragedy and the aimless, spur of the moment impulses of youth.
Sessa is riveting, on screen for nearly every moment of the film as he creates the young, hungry, unfocused mess that was 19 year old Bourdain.
Writer? Celebrity Chef? Culinary force of nature?
Knowing what Bourdain became fully informs the power of the film.
Knowing that he ended his own life in 2018 resonates deeply as well, echoing into the sadness and directionless energy that Sessa pours into his portrayal.
Smart, moving and fascinating, TONY pulls you in quickly and holds your attention well after the final scene. It gets an A.
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