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Antonio Banderas: "Tony"

 One of the nicest touches in "Tony" is Mrs. Bourdain, who pounces when her son mispronounces the word "Bildungsroman." She trashes a bag of records that her husband has left in the living room -- then disingenuously says that a bag on the floor is always, categorically, just a piece of trash. When her son goes missing, she quickly gets lost in a marital fight; somehow, she forgets to keep her eyes on the prize, which is the chance to locate her son.


The script doesn't "dig in" to Mrs. Bourdain's standard-variety misery. It just lightly touches on a few odd moments -- and this is enough to let us know that we have certainly met (and maybe lived next door to) someone very much like Mrs. Bourdain.

There are other surprises. In an American coming-of-age movie, we might expect the flawed main characters to have hearts of gold. But Leo Woodall's character is mostly reprehensible. He seems to be cruising close to "self-destruction" territory. Woodall makes us feel for this guy -- but, still, the character is someone we might hesitate to have lunch with. (As the Times observes, Woodall's performance is actually brilliant.) Anthony Bourdain, having studied his sad mother for twenty years, is himself a puddle of masochistic behaviors. He paints himself into corners, makes thoughtless choices, destroys property. Even the wise third actor -- Antonio Banderas -- is not living anything like the life he wants to live. We can sense this whenever he loses his temper in the kitchen.

There is a coyness about this movie because, of course, the lead character will go on to commit suicide. By failing to address this, the movie seems to say, "We're OK with being superficial." I understand that the movie is focused on an early stage in Bourdain's life -- but if you're telling me that I am watching Bourdain (and not a purely fictional character), then it seems like you should address the suicide. It's there -- even when Bourdain is nineteen. It's traveling alongside Bourdain. To pretend it's not is irresponsible.

That said, I had a good time.
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