TONY. “The movie is about growing out of your childhood nickname and becoming who you’re supposed to be,” director Matt Johnson told CNN about his recent feature, Tony. Anthony Bourdain needs little introduction, but if a person were to go into this film with little understanding of Bourdain’s career and legacy, I imagine they’d leave with a smile, charmed by a story about a spunky kid’s stumble into his own destiny. The film is based on three summers, with details spanning the ages of 15 to 25, as described in Bourdain’s memoir Kitchen Confidential. Johnson and his collaborators attempt to capture a time in Bourdain’s youth where perceived passions and desires transform into an entirely unexpected and soulful flavor, but is the story watered down?
In the same CNN interview, actor Dominic Sessa, who stars as the icon, describes that he created a version of Bourdain based on stories, photos and his own New Jersey upbringing. He didn’t have to be Bourdain because he was capturing a time in his life fewer people know about — humble beginnings that serve as fertile ground for the film’s development. And humble they are, as we see Tony time and time again humbled into accepting himself as a canvas for life experience. At first the story is guided by Tony’s desire to be a writer and get with Nancy. This pursuit takes him to the laid-back, maritime village of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he finds himself low on cash, dejected and sleeping in the gutter. On the good faith of a local chef, he is given a hammock in which to sleep in exchange for work. Here he finds dirty dishes, drugs and an exhilarating community, but when faced with the consequences of his own immaturity, he realizes what he was ultimately seeking was in the kitchen. He falls in love with the art of cooking and takes responsibility for his future. Beat beet beat. Summer hit.
The film’s setting made many nods to the color and culture of 1975 with pinstripe suit pants and Brian Eno in tow, though at times the film feels very contemporary and noncommittal in its established setting with costumes appearing costume-y and dialogue sounding like anyplace. Beyond aesthetic choices, there are practices in the film that do exude a “different time” for anyone who didn’t live through them, like Tony’s decision to find his crush, Nancy, by ripping out her yearbook page and taking a bus to a different state with little money in his pocket, or the New England clambake that, even at that time, was becoming less of a reality in the Provincetown community. “You know, this is how it used to be,” Tony’s mentor, Chef, says as they cook tuna over an open flame on the beach. In this same breath, it seems important to note that Tony appears ambivalent about whether to condone or shrug at the masculine culture the film depicts — a culture that follows women, unbeknownst to them, to their summer home and beats up the boyfriends of friend’s crushes. While the world Johnson brings to life does have consequences for these actions, it’s unclear if the audience is meant to ignore their strangeness or consider them within the logic of the film as the “misunderstood” actions of young men.
Though most of us know Bourdain from his illustrious career of travel and cuisine — as well as his tragic end — the 23-year-old Sessa’s representation of him turns a pop culture figure into an approachable stand-in for any young person figuring out life. Maybe too approachable. Admittedly, I left the theater feeling mostly good about the movie — it hit all the beats that a good, straightforward story needs to hit to be a success. As I thought about it more, it seemed that the crux of what I enjoyed about the story was mostly the unexceptional arc of the character that washed me with good summer feelings and delighted with its nostalgia. Plainly, what I liked had little to do with Bourdain. I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of the biopic genre, feeling that it is one of the most oversaturated genres of recent time and wrought with stinkers, but I can feel satisfied when a filmmaker intends to tell a story about a narrow period in a person’s life. That said, Tony still left me hungry for the real person. R. 106M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
Sasha Senal (she/they) is a writer, environmental educator and aspiring farmer. She can be found exploring Humboldt forests (not unlike her home redwoods on the Sonoma Coast) and considering Black eco-feminism.
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This article appears in Corkscrew Trees and a Crooked Trail.
