When you’re making a film about the late, great Anthony Bourdain, it needs to strike a careful balance—punk, personal, passionate, and above all, genuine. From the look of this trailer, it serves that in spades.

Based on Bourdain’s life, the film stars Dominic Sessa in the lead role, alongside Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, and Antonio Banderas. It’s a strong cast, but capturing someone as larger-than-life as Bourdain is always going to be a tall order.

I’ll admit—I’m biased. Bourdain has always been a huge inspiration to me. His death was a massive loss; he left the world far too soon.

But what a life he lived.

He came up in New York during its wildest years, saw David Bowie live, shared meals with Iggy Pop and Barack Obama, and travelled the world with a rare kind of honesty. Wherever he went, he taught us something simple but powerful: be curious, be open, and eat where the locals eat.

Bourdain was many things, but pretentious was never one of them.
His book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, remains an eye-opening read, and a lot of his work is still out there, freely accessible, continuing to inspire new audiences every day.

I just hope this film does him justice.
Because in the years since his passing, his legacy hasn’t always been treated with the respect it deserves, and frankly, it should be.

In the meantime? I’ll be over here rewatching No Reservations.