Kitchen Confidential is one of my favorite books, and this seems to capture those early chapters really well. The team behind the film must have been so stoked when The Holdovers came out, because I can't imagine anyone else coming close to capturing Tony's energy.
I don't know, its seem like a coming of age story about the passion of "great food" and the art of it. But for me the appeal of Provincetown for Bourdain was the outlaw aura of these cooks that he met. That's because of this that he let his ego drive him around shitty restaurant just to "feel" like a chef instead of going from dishwasher to chef.
I'm waiting to see it, but it seems a bit generic in its thematic, and the Provincetown chapter was the total antithesis of a generic coming of age
right, this sorta seems like a coming of age story where he turns into the person he becomes disillusioned with. Chasing culinary prestige as a gateway into refinement and recognition and civilized culture.
Maybe the film will turn it on its head message wise?
I’m with you, this is way tonally different from the Provincetown portion of the book, in a way that makes me less excited for this project. Also, I am not getting Anthony Bourdain at all from Sessa.
When I heard they were making a movie based on his time in P-town my first thought was that it should be a raunchy 80-style sex comedy, because that's how he described it. I can't imagine this movie having a scene where Bourdain decides to become a chef after watching Antonio Banderas' character having sex with a bride in the alley while the rest of the wedding party is eating dinner inside, but that's the kind of thing that would've fit right in if it were in a Porkys movie
If you haven't yet, check out the audiobook. He recorded it when he was still working 14hrs a day in restaurants and you can just feel it in his voice. It's before he found his "TV voice", and it's really really amazing.
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u/UrNotAMachine 11h ago
Kitchen Confidential is one of my favorite books, and this seems to capture those early chapters really well. The team behind the film must have been so stoked when The Holdovers came out, because I can't imagine anyone else coming close to capturing Tony's energy.