Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain Movie Review

“Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” is a documentary movie about — well, Anthony Bourdain. In case you don’t know, he was famous chef, who became an author, who then turned into globe-trotting celebrity TV personality. He was a man who took no halfway measures. He was on board and full-speed ahead for any obsessive adventure. That is until he ended his own story, and his own life, in unclear circumstances.​

Anthony Bourdain had a pervasive aversion to anything normal or common. He studies early on to become a chef at a chic New York City restaurant. But he had no filter, and no willingness to be mediocre. So he wrote a tell-all book that became a best-seller, detailing all the interesting ways that the chefs and restaurant owners get by on the cheap. It was revealing and scandalous, and the public loved it. Bourdain became a minor celebrity and sought-after guest for TV shows. When a production company thought he could be the main player in a new show about travelling the word exploring exotic food – Anthony Bourdain was on his way to be a star.

Bourdain started with small ideas and visions, with the production crew keeping up with his odd ideas. Rather than a tour of grand old cuisine of Europe, he instead made the show about exotic places in Asia. Places like Bangkok and in Viet Nam, with the uncommon foods that brought a touch of mystery. This way of life was strange to him, and he showed to the world that his deep-seated pursuit of the odd and the peculiar was entertaining. But at the same time, it ruined his marriage and set him off into new social circles.

His closest friends were all in the artistic world, with some authors, musicians, and a few famous chefs. He was also close to the production crew that helped put together all of his shows. One time they filmed a segment in Beirut. But, as it happens in the Middle East, war broke out there and his crew got stranded for a few days. Life and Death were in battle all around them, but for Bourdain it was an interesting diversion for the TV audience. He was down-to-earth in that he was in the same boat as other tourists who needed to be picked and escorted out of a war zone. As long as he could live on the edge, that was enough for him.

Anthony Bourdain had found another woman, and they married. Eventually, they had a little girl. Now, Bourdain had a purpose and reason to end the jet-setting and constant travels. But he could never do it. He again picked up his travel bags and his TV crew. They went around the world again and again, creating a show called “Parts Unknown”. The show grew, as did his fame. He was less of a home-bound husband and father, and still concentrated on unique places to show the audiences. Another marriage failed as more frequent-flyer miles accumulated. His obsession with the exotic and the unknown led Bourdain to more ratings success.

There was a point when he was not sure about his future, but then there was another woman. A young actress came into his life named Asia Argento. He immediately found an infatuation. And soon this infatuation bloomed into a full-blown obsession. Anthony Bourdain had a way of pouring every fiber of his being into something that got his interest. His show was getting over the top in ratings, and he was deeply in love with this young woman. His way might be considered too obsessive and overly aggressive.

He began to devalue his TV crew and brought in new people. He was determined to stay close with his new angel. His days of getting the program done quickly started to drop off. Then, there was a day when a newspaper headline showed his new love off far away on beach, with a new lover. Several days after that story came out, Anthony Bourdain committed suicide. There was no note.

As directed by Morgan Neville, the movie “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” delivers a mixed message on the man who many people saw as a fun-loving, yet wildly cynical, personality. Bourdain was deeply flawed in some aspects, and came to be a shinning star with a troubled soul. He had led people out of boring places into exotic locations and into unique situations. Yet Bourdain never seemed to be comfortable when out at the edge of the wild end of life, nor back in the comfy confines of domestic stability.

Neville has much footage of Anthony Bourdain to pull from, after all, there were nearly twenty years of shows on the air. Morgan Neville, who has done similar great work with “20 Feet from Stardom,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, shows here that he can take a subject and can whittle down to the nub. With a collection of interviews of Bourdain’s friend and co-workers, along with archival footage — Neville lays down a painful portrait of a unique man.