As someone who cannot cook, this film does not show you how. In fact, the majority of Anthony Bourdain’s career did not focus on how he cooked but the way he spoke about food and people. The tone of his almost stream of conscious but compelling focus on the relationship he had with his travels hangs in between dedicated family man and tragic damaged soul. Morgan Neville does a divine job of toggling back and forth between the open and closed-door within the Bourdain brain.
The audience is introduced to him as his New York Times bestselling novel Kitchen Confidential is starting to make waves in the mid-90s. Interviews with those closest to him during this time dictate how the oncoming fame never really set well from the beginning. A recovering heroin addict was torn between his opinion mattering and how he stays authentic to the life he aimed for begins to crack.
Shortly we are introduced to the acclaimed Bourdain with CNN’s Parts Unknown and dig deeper into how his cries for help were well muffled by his devil may care presentation and extensive work ethic. As he tries to hold a family together with a 266-day travel schedule, we continue to watch Neville artistically unfold something he himself was not as clued into. In fact, Neville did not begin to explore Bourdain until he was working with another celebrity chef David Chang. It was there that he began to learn how the cooking community, and many others, viewed him.
He drew you in without trying because he himself felt not worthy of doing so yet, he craved it. Roadrunner is perfectly named as he continues to chase what will fill his stomach in the documentary. It’s unfortunate that in the end he was left empty as the rest of us were left starving to have more of him.