Director Matt Johnson (Blackberry, Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie) takes on the task of depicting the early years of the icon Anthony Bourdain. Based on Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential memoir from 1999, Tony sees Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers), in his first lead role, play a 19-year-old Bourdain stuck at a crossroads in the summer of 1975. After failing to qualify for a writing programme, pretentious young wordsmith Tony takes off to Cape Cod for the summer hot on the heels of his high-school crush Nancy who he repeatedly fails to impress. With no money or real plan, Tony finds himself working in a kitchen in the buzzy seaside town, under strict mentorship from ‘Chef’, but the culture of kitchen life presents many new characters to Tony and he is torn between Chef’s tutelage and the allure of Sal, a womanising older brother figure who shows Tony a new way to live. As funny, sharp and as restless as its protagonist Tony captures the spirit not just of Bourdain, but any young man at a crossroads in life, without reducing Bourdain to a myth. Rógan Graham, Film Programmer An A24 release. Screen: NFT4. Screening details: Audio description headset; Closed captions (CC) smart glasses.
