Matt Johnson’s new A24-produced film, Tony, opens with a quote from Anthony Bourdain himself displayed onscreen, acknowledging that he was not half the man we knew him to be during his younger days. This was a wise decision, because Dominic Sessa does a phenomenal job portraying a young and arrogant Bourdain who is, to be honest, not someone you really want to be friends with – or even be around for very long.

Sessa is portraying a 19-year-old Bourdain in this fictional story very loosely based on real events that Bourdain described in his most popular book, Kitchen Confidential. He rocks a leather jacket, name drops George Orwell and Jack Kerouac in his first line, and exudes the cockiness of a young man who thinks he’s got it made in life.

After losing out on a writing fellowship from Vassar he was banking on, Tony decides to follow a girl he’s crushing on (Emilia Jones) to Cape Cod. A decision that any woman watching would likely cringe at, and a decision that could only be made by an overconfident white man.

Once he gets there, he’s dirt broke and has little prospects, so he takes a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant, where he meets Sal (Leo Woodall), a drug addict and all-around bad influence, and Chef, played by Antonio Banderas. Banderas is the standout of this film to me. He has always delivered impeccable performances, but his quiet, calm, dependable energy in this is beautiful to watch. His acting is leagues above his cast-mates, but that is to be expected — he’s the veteran here, and he is the heart of the film, in many ways.

Tony doesn’t mature a whole lot by the end of the movie; it’s not some fairytale where he magically becomes a healthy person overnight, but it does end with him making the right decision for once, and enjoying a gorgeous sunset on the beach before going off to culinary school. It’s a hopeful ending, but I do wish they had actually shown a few more flash-forward scenes of him becoming Anthony Bourdain as we knew him, instead of writing it out onscreen in text.

The set design in this film is amazing. Truly stunning; every location has a very human, lived-in feel to it. However, so many of the shots used shallow focus, meaning that the beautifully decorated sets were blurred out at times where I felt that it would’ve been much nicer to see everything clearly in the shot — what we call deep focus. That being said, I think night shots are Michael Bauman’s strong suit. The dusk and night scenes were stunning!

Drug addiction is depicted pretty casually in this, which may be triggering to some. It’s not glorified or anything like that, but it’s a side plot which isn’t really closed out by the end. I wasn’t the biggest fan of that part, especially knowing that the story isn’t actually based on a real experience Bourdain had.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable film, but knowing that Bourdain took his own life in 2018 does kind of put a damper on the hopeful tone it takes. Sessa portrays his inner turmoil so well, but knowing what that turmoil eventually led to…it’s emotional, to say the least.

Tony opens in select theaters on August 7, then expands nationwide in the USA on August 24.
Rated: R, for sexual material, language throughout, and drug use.
Run Time: 106 minutes.