Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Bourdain is no Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Joan of Arc. He's not someone who made a stunning contribution to world history. He's a celebrity chef, food and travel writer. But he was a man with a high profile whose suicide baffled a lot of people, including myself, leaving us to wonder why.

This cleverly edited doco lays that out. Finding the answer is not at all easy but the filmmakers did find it. There was no cataclysmic moment but instead a build up and confluence of factors over many years. A man forever searching for IT, throwing himself into new things and new people only to find that for him they weren't IT and could never be IT. The fact is, there is no IT. Or perhaps IT, is something much more simple and yet profound, as Iggy Pop tells him at one point.

This doco will stay with me for a very long time - unlike a lot of films that I find almost instantly forgettable - and deserves repeat viewing. If you're fascinated by the psychology of individuals then it is a rewarding experience.

Side note: On the issue of using AI to replicate his voice in some parts, I have no issue. The words spoken are his and the filmmakers intentions are noble.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is a personal, honest-albeit loving-look at and into the life of Anthony Bourdain and all the various detours it took. This documentary charts his journey from chef to writer to acclaimed TV host, as told by his closest friends, the people he worked with, and his family.

After an opening credits sequence that runs through the years leading up to Bourdain's career as a chef, Roadrunner begins its sprint in 1999 after he's secured a deal to write a book about his experiences in the restaurant world, Kitchen Confidential, the New York Times bestseller that would put Bourdain on the talk show circuit, and kickstart his ascent towards celebrity. In preparation for writing his second memoir, A Chef's Tour, he was approached by TV producers who pitched an ongoing series in tandem with the upcoming book, thus forming a partnership that would spawn multiple shows, win several Emmys and begin Bourdain's long tenure on television screens and secure his status as a world-famous traveler.

This film is a challenge on many levels. For starters, Bourdain's suicide is still a recent event in the public eye, and, I'm certain, a fresh wound for those who knew him. It's difficult to watch a feature-length story of someone's whole life, knowing that it's going to end so inevitably, suddenly, and sadly; however, Roadrunner succeeds by showing us Bourdain in his totality which balances the sadness of his inevitable end. And yet, audiences may find it unavoidable to wonder who he really was, along with his loved ones striving to answer the question: Who was Anthony Bourdain off-screen?

Roadrunner mirrors Bourdain's own frequent departures from home and journeys to parts unknown, taking us back and forth from his television world and his home life with his daughter. We see a conversation between Bourdain and a friend, where they discuss the paradox of wanting to return home when they're away, but immediately wanting to get back on the road when they get home. This tragic conversation gets right to the heart of the movie's title, Roadrunner, and just how reflective it was of Bourdain's own everyday life.

After a TV episode goes awry, Bourdain talks about his faltering belief in the power of the table at which we eat and share, yet Roadrunner becomes a testament to that power. Nearly every interview in the film is organized across a table, where deeply personal details and anecdotes from those who knew Bourdain are exchanged. Director Neville operates with a wealth of outtakes from his TV shows and all the excess footage of Bourdain's 20 years on screen, but it's these genuine moments with Bourdain's tribe that cut the deepest.

I give Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 15 to 18, plus adults, for mild language and strong themes throughout. Roadrunner lands in theaters on July 16, 2021. Reviewed by Benjamin P., KIDS FIRST!

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.

Sensitive subject! Anthony Bourdain travelled to many many exotic and toxic places, He had to be prescribed an anti malaria drug. It is a fact that one of them is a killer - Mefloquine . If you have any trauma PTSD, addictions, altered brain chemistry etc...it can and will mess with your head.

My wife and I loved the movie and Anthony, we just wonder did they miss something .....

This doc is well put together and very beautiful at times. It uses bits of audio book narration, clips from various Bourdain shows, previous press pieces, home movies, friend and family interviews and more - to tell the tale of someone that has fascinated many, myself included.

I picked up the audio book of Kitchen Confidential nearly a decade after it came out. I was a young mom who needed the escapism of a story in my ear to survive my dead end job. Tony gave me all of that and more. I listened to that book and Medium Raw, when it came out, over and over. I rocked babies at night to them, I typed hours of data into spreadsheets to them, I knew which chapters to listen to when I had had a bad day or needed to get motivated for a long day ahead. My commute was full of Bourdain and his voice became a comfort blanket. I watched the brief narrative TV show so many times I am frankly surprised some network didn't consider it for a reboot. I turn on one of his travel shows and fall asleep to it when I now travel for work. And I don't think I'm alone in that. I think Tony meant a lot to a lot of people for a lot of reasons.

This film can feel voyeuristic and terrible if you are just mildly curious about Bourdain. This might not have been made for you. Who it was made for is people who needed a safe place to mourn with someone who also cared for a person. If you feel like an idiot mourning a person you never really knew - join the club. But I think the beauty of Tony is that he let us know him in some way that made us also feel known. I needed to mourn the loss of my friend and maybe you do too.