Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain is not the documentary you thought it might be. It is not a fluff piece of praise about arguably the most famous celebrity chef of this century, nor does it claim to explain why he committed suicide at age 61. What it does do is thrill with his charisma, a personal magnetism that makes this tall, handsome man taller than anyone else in the room.

From the moment his Kitchen Confidential hit the streets and became an instant New York Times best seller, the food world had an apologist for its greatness and a foodie realist who trumpeted the greatness of eating around the world. Not even tales of his heroin addiction could dissuade food lovers from making him the emblem of in-your-face food fashion. Home videos of him at times such as when he berates a fishmonger in front of Bourdain's Park Ave steak house, Les Halles, are endearing.

As the doc depicts him, he is almost more interested in how a nation's cuisine mirrors its culture than the actual nature of the food itself. If fish is the Japanese signature food, then how it is presented is more important than the fish. He is roguish and bad-ass, not Batali or Emeril.

The doc is itself more interested in spying on Bourdain or tracking him walking and talking than it is in how he helps his or someone else's restaurant attain star ratings. Director Morgan Neville has found the most charming footage, much of it outtakes from the hundreds of hours of him at play and occasionally at work on his celebrated cable shows. The kerfuffle about their using a bot for some of his narration is interesting but does not compromise the overall Bourdain depiction.

The most fascinating "at play" is his intriguing love affairs with his second wife, Ottavia, and Italian actress Asia Argento, who eventually leaves him for another man and us to wonder if that split is the cause of his final act (he hung himself in a hotel room in 2018). Lamentably this great writer left no note to help us understand that inscrutable act.

To its credit, the documentary makes no claims to know why but neatly allows voice overs to make insightful, if not superficial, conclusions that this peripatetic celebrity could not find his place in even the most exotic places on earth. Ironically, Bourdain claimed to be an open book about his talent and his demons, but really never allowed the latter to reveal themselves or explain his exit.

My own inference from the tantalizing details of this outstanding documentary is that, like Hemingway, Plath, and Robin Williams, to name only three famous suicides, his talent and his charm overwhelmed even him, to the extent that they were crushing the real Tony out of existence. He never knew himself well enough to be able to save himself.

Who knows? The doc does well, anyway, showing the daily thrills of Bourdain, how much he loved people more than food, and how restless his soaring talent was. In the end, he may have been too gifted to be able to live with himself. And that's what I thought about Hemingway as well. Great gifts require great care lest they destroy.

Roadrunner: The Life of Anthony Bourdain is a fascinating study of a celebrated chef who was far more interesting than the food he celebrated.

This was an honest and at times brutally unflinching look at a very famous person who had a very enigmatic end. It will make you feel lots and miss the man more, but it's doesn't answer anything and leaves you feeling both sad at what happened, but glad that you were there for the ride.

Still miss him, his show was so great... This is very much worth seeing.

"ROADRUNNER: A Film About Anthony Bourdain," directed by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville ("20 Feet from Stardom"), shines a light on the fast life and tragic death by suicide in 2018 of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. The documentary accomplishes this using archival footage from Bourdain's hit television shows, "No Reservations," "Parts Unknown," "The Layover," "A Cook's Tour," along with interviews with him beginning in 1999 as he began writing his best selling book, "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly." The film also includes interviews with various Bourdain family, friends and work colleagues. The grief of his loss is still very raw, evidence of this shown through the interviews in the documentary, leaving the audience with many theories and unanswered questions as to why Anthony Bourdain chose to commit suicide. Much like Bourdain was in life, the film never stops moving, taking you along for the accelerated journey of a man who was inventive, tempestuous, extraordinary, and deeply flawed.

It's impossible for me to review this documentary without bias. Anthony Bourdain has inspired me more than anyone on this planet (filmmaker Kevin Smith is up there as well, but this isn't about him). When I was a child, I religiously (more cultishly if I am being honest) watched his shows, vicariously living through this skinny punk rock, foul mouthed, cigarette devouring force.

I saw the way he talked to people, all people and studied how he listened, how he asked questions, how he made sure people knew they were actually heard. Watched how language barriers were leapt over, cultural differences were celebrated and how food and drink were a catalyst for love, honesty and for a sense of community.

I grew up in poverty yet following Anthony, to all corners of the world and seeing real places with real history, meeting folks with real stories, who came from and lived in conditions that made my shabby duplex look like the Ritz Carlton. It was transformative. It was escapism yet absolutely grounded in the real world.

I'd read his books and be drawn to a truly unique voice. I'd fall under a spell driven by a deeply compulsive, page turning, "I can't put this down" frenzy. I'd never read stories more relatable yet fantastical, hilarious, sad, and positively sobering. Critically important, emotional lessons for the writer, filmmaker, chef, and person I knew I was destined to become.

I read Kitchen Confidential and got a job as a dishwasher that same summer, then once I had a bit of money I'd watch No Reservations or Parts Unknown and before I knew it I was on a plane to China, then Europe, then China again. I even tried to film my own, one man crew, travel show in Jiujiang. The results? Disastrous, but I am still proud of the attempt.

Roadrunner is exactly the film I hoped it would be. The film I needed it to be. It didn't show us some hidden side of Anthony. It didn't make him out to be anything he isn't. That is impossible. Bourdain showed us the realness from day one. No film, book, documentary, podcast, review- anything-can ever change that.

Director Morgan Neville caught my attention with his 2018 documentary about Fred Rogers (Won't You Be My Neighbor?). He just shows the footage, his questions aren't set up with some hidden agenda, he lets the subjects and cast speak for themselves. That's the exact brilliant documentary filmmaking Roadrunner is fueled by.

The best part of Anthony's inner circle? They all have so much to say. The powerful, beautiful, wondrous impact this man's life had on them yet the devastating, painful, frustrating crater-sized hole his death left in them.

Roadrunner covers that. It has to. But it largely celebrates Tony's life. I didn't cry during the film, I got a lump in my throat but was able to stay composed. The interviews and footage are dazzling and engaging. I was too fascinated to cry. Too eager to see more, I came prepared (with six neatly folded kleenex in my pocket) but refused to let my emotions distract me from my viewing experience-then the credits rolled. Left alone in my own head to process what I just saw. Emotion came over me like a crushing wave. I felt lucky to make it to the car, to sit there and let myself feel it.

And that, is good filmmaking.

Bourdain showed me the world, showed us the world with his incredible story telling, sharp wit, sarcasm and humor. He found a way to shrink the globe, while making every place he went to seem as vast and important as any other. It was delicious food, a sense of community and humor that linked the planet, nothing else matters. He showed it was possible and attainable to get there, just buy a ticket. Stop lying to yourself, stop talking about it, stop dreaming about it and just make it happen.

Go see Roadrunner. You deserve it.

Suicide is preventable, there are resources, there are outlets, there are ways to get better. Check in on your friends and family, make the effort. You never really know who will need it, you just might save a life.

This is a brilliant documentary on the adult life and success of Anthony Bourdain, warts and all. I found myself mesmerized by his charismatic charm and his authentic, complicated nature as a "mediocre cook" to a global book and television sensation. The film has great historical footage which showcase this wild ride. The film also is filled with interviews of people that knew and worked with Tony. These folks clearly loved and admired him, but were very forthcoming about the challenges of working with Tony. The film is good film making. Not too long. It is well structured and well made-unlike many modern, so called, documentaries. The look at Bourdain in the light of Conrad and Colonel Kurtz is brilliant. The film starts out, in Tony's own words, telling you the story will not have a happy ending. The story night not have a happy ending, but the ride is joyous.