A Review: Tony

When audiences think of biopics, it's likely those of actors and musicians come to mind but in this year we had a new, and interesting take on the widely done genre. A24’s new release Tony, starring Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) and Antonio Banderas, a film that follows a summer in the life of famous chef Anthony Bourdain that helped to shape him and what he went on to do in the future.

As previously mentioned, the film takes place over the summer that changed Anthony Bourdain’s life in a way that hugely shaped his future career. When we first get introduced to the character, he is adamant he is meant to be a writer and firmly believes he will be getting a writing fellowship. When he goes out for a drink with his friend, he runs into a girl who he has a little crush on and when she tells him her plans for the summer, he decides to follow her to Cape Cod. He finds here that he must get a job and find a place to stay after the impulse decision to follow Nancy to Provincetown.  After getting into an altercation on his first night staying there, he ends up a pot washer in a local restaurant which ends up helping him foster a love of food and cooking.

Going into the film, I knew nothing about Anthony Bourdain. The film takes on a style that perhaps feels more reminiscent of a coming-of-age film than a biopic. We follow Bourdain finding his way in the world while making many silly mistakes and decisions along the way. One thing that really stuck out in the style of the film was that while technically it is a biopic, we are shown so much less of his life than is usually shown within them. We purely see what shapes him into who the world knew him as, and then the film ends. This felt incredibly educational about the life of Bourdain (which in a sense a biopic should be) teaching its audience about his origins of who he became known as to us, the world.

 The choice to only tell his story up to this point feels incredibly effective as many would agree that the biopic fatigue that Hollywood seems to run through is from telling us the stories of people that we largely already know. This can be through showing us a singer’s life up until the end of their career, or an actor's life working on their most famed film. Tony aims to show us the build-up to what we know, a story that is probably lesser known than the life of Bourdain during his fame. 

Overall, Tony is an enjoyable film even to those who don’t know much about the chef going into the film. The style of storytelling is incredibly effective at telling a story that feels so much more than just the life of a famous chef, it helps show him finding his way in the world and discovering his passions which is something that anyone can relate to. The film tells an enjoyable story and is done in an entertaining manner that is easy for all audiences to digest. 

I’d rate Tony 4/5.

Written by, Laura Woods