Welcome to Satanists on Cinema. We are your hosts Satanist Cameron John and Reverend Campbell. Satanists on Cinema is a film review and commentary series that travels the world, leaving our shitty American culture on everyone’s doorstep, even if they don’t have a door. But at least we have the decency to photograph every moment of the experience in Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts and flip flops; being sure to try local cuisine that we immediately spit up as loudly as possible, ending up at KFC or McDonalds, you know, so we blend in. Welcome to our review of Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.
Discussion
- Log Line: A documentary about Anthony Bourdain and his career as a chef, writer and host, revered and renowned for his authentic approach to food, culture and travel.
- 2021 American documentary film directed and produced by Morgan Neville.
- Release date June 11, 2021 (Tribeca) & July 16, 2021 (United States)
- garnered controversy over its use of artificial intelligence technology to reproduce Bourdain’s voice for some audio clips.
- director Morgan Neville stated in an interview with New Yorker writer Helen Rosner that he had hired a software company to create an artificial intelligence (AI) model of Bourdain’s voice so that the film could emulate him reciting words that he had written, but for which no recordings of him speaking exist, such as an email he had written to friend David Choe. Neville said there were two other such uses of the technology in the film, but refused to specify what they were, stating, “If you watch the film […] you probably don’t know what the other lines are that were spoken by the A.I., and you’re not going to know. We can have a documentary-ethics panel about it later.
- Ottavia Busia, Bourdain’s ex-wife and executor of his estate, denied that she had been consulted about the use of AI to reproduce Bourdain’s voice, tweeting: “I certainly was NOT the one who said Tony would have been cool with that.”
- The film follows the life and career of Anthony Bourdain, who died by suicide on June 8, 2018 at the age of 61 while on location in France for his CNN show Parts Unknown.
- The documentary features interviews with David Chang and Éric Ripert, as well as members of the production crew from Parts Unknown.
- The title alludes to “Roadrunner”, a song by The Modern Lovers, that appears in the film.
- Writing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman described the film as “an intimate and fascinating portrait of the beloved celebrity chef and television globe-trotter” and “a spiritual investigation into why [Bourdain’s] life ended”. He concluded: “Bourdain’s death was a tragedy, but Roadrunner suggests it was a tragedy with a touch of destiny.”
Links
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14512538/
- 7.9/10 stars
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadrunner:_A_Film_About_Anthony_Bourdain
- https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/roadrunner_a_film_about_anthony_bourdain
- 92% Certified Fresh with a 94% audience score
Ratings
Satanist Cameron John
Reverend Campbell
Magister Campbell
Average rating: 0 reviews