I just watched a preview of the new Documentary about Chef, Writer and TV Personality, Anthony Bourdain.
I wondered which Blog to post my thoughts on. He was a Chef and a sort of food travel tv host but was so much more than that. He was a very complex individual who always seemed a little conflicted as I was deciding to post this on my Starving Foodie blog or my Film, Food Stuff Blog. I think in the end it is more fitting to be on this blog because that was kind of like Anthony Bourdain's life.
I found the film incredibly sad and only in hindsight do you see all the signs that pointed to the beginning of the end.
I have a very minimal connection to Bourdain. Many years ago I was a volunteer Makeup Artist at Rogers Television and I usually worked on 3 different shows but one day I got a call to come in during the week to do makeup on a New York Chef for the Daytime show. I said sure no problem. I had no idea who this chef was. It was at the very beginning of Bourdain's television career and I hadn't seen the show yet but I was interested in chatting with him because I was a food lover but this was way before the whole blogging thing came into the picture. Now I wish 3 things. That I had a food blog then, that I could have known who he was before I showed up to the studio and 3 if I could have taken a photo with him then and had the exact date recorded.
Anthony Bourdain was different than most of the guests I did makeup for. He seemed like he would rather be anywhere else when I started doing his makeup. Not a fan of getting pretty or small talk maybe. But I most certainly got an uncomfortable vibe from him until I asked him where his favourite place for food in the world that he has been too. His eyes finally lit up when he said Vietnam. I will never forget that.
Looking at a scene in the documentary where they talk about the first time he went to Vietnam reminded me of his answer to my question. Food and places generate emotions.
Anthony's shows were all about emotions and experiences. At the beginning it was the shock factor of weird things he would eat and extreme experiences and then it evolved into the political and social stories of the people in the places he went to. It was less about the food but food was the entree into each world. By the time the last few Parts Unknown shows started airing the tone of the shows started getting noticeable darker and a bit spiritual. I remember noticing the extreme shift in the visuals of the show. The show was always mezmurizing to me but the music and the images intensified.
The Roadrunner documentary shows Anthony's life from the beginning of the days from him going from a Chef to a writer and then overnight to TV star. From Broke to Rich in a blink of an eye. But did that make him happy? Maybe there were flickers of happiness but the Chef I met in the makeup room at Rogers Television did not seem like a happy man and that was only the beginning.
The film shows his 3 relationships from his first long time wife to his life changing second wife who he had a daughter with to his last relationship that probably made his head spin.
The film interviews his friends, his second wife and his crew. At the beginning of the film Anthony's clips from his shows with his voiceover are extremely haunting and foreshadowing.
I found this film incredibly sad at the life that was lost and no one will ever know what was really going on in his head before he made his last decision but the film does speculate what they think.
I think it's a must see documentary if you know anyone that works in the food world or is struggling with coping in life. See it, take them to see it, discuss it and be open to discussing life with people who are not ok and need a little help.
I hope this is a film that will have people with mental health challenges to seek help.
See the film but don't expect a Hollywood fluff story with a Happy Ending.
The film will be released in theatres on July 16, 2021 and then eventually it will be on Netflix and CNN.
I miss the work that Anthony Bourdain could have created if he was still here. Ever the storyteller, now watch his story.
