This week’s film is “Tony,” a throwback drama set in the 70's in Provincetown, Massachusetts, illuminating a summer chef, Anthony Bourdain, spent engulfed in the Cape Cod restaurant culture. Aspiring to become a writer, Tony, as he preferred at the time, is devastated after getting rejected for a Vassar College writing fellowship. Played by Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti’s co-star in “The Holdovers,” Tony’s plan B is to run away from his family and pursue Nancy, his high school crush, played by “CODA’s” Emilia Jones. Nancy is an older, “unapproachable” Vassar student who is partying in Ptown for the summer break.
Armed with nothing but bus fare and a sense of entitlement amplified by a proclivity for compulsively lying, Tony follows Nancy to Ptown where he lands on his face rather than his feet in a local restaurant called The Flagship. Tony quickly falls under the competing tutelage of the restaurant’s chef, played brilliantly in a measured performance by Antonio Banderas, and his primitively savage sous chef Sal, played by Leo Woodall in another forceful turn following his breakout role in this year’s Sundance hit “Tuner.”
Tony’s experiences, while somewhat unevenly dramatized, obviously are the genesis of his 2000 bestselling memoir “Kitchen Confidential.” Director/writer Matt Johnson briefly but delicately foreshadows Chef Bourdain’s later death by suicide in a touching scene with Banderas’ character, leaving the devastating question of “why” hanging for audience contemplation without judging or romanticizing the tragic loss. While Tony’s exploits and relationship with Banderas’ chef are fictionalized, the drama successfully captures the origin of the spirit, curiosity and relationships that seeded the career of the charismatic chef, author and multimedia star.
So, on my ski trail rating system, “Tony” earns my highest BLACK DIAMOND ski trail rating. “Tony” is that rare film making it to mainstream theaters which takes the time to allow its small but terrific cast to transport the audience back in time, delivering a slice of life of one of our most enigmatic celebrity chefs. While Dominic Sessa’s portrayal embodies the chef’s personality many came to adore, it’s the performances by Banderas, Woodall and Jones which ultimately anchor the heart and soul of the film.
“Tony” is playing in theaters with a run-time of one hour and forty-six minutes. The film is rated R for sexual content, nudity, language, drug content and briny puncture wounds.
