LOS ANGELES, July 30 -- The embargo for A24's "Tony" lifted Wednesday morning and the industry reaction that followed was close to uniform: something has clicked for Dominic Sessa, and it clicked in a big way.

The 22-year-old actor, who earned a BAFTA nomination for his supporting turn opposite Paul Giamatti in "The Holdovers" three years ago, plays Anthony Bourdain at 19 in director Matt Johnson's coming-of-age portrait of the chef's pivotal 1975 summer on Cape Cod. Not the Bourdain who sold millions of books or hosted "Parts Unknown." Not the leather-jacketed contrarian who redefined what it meant to eat and write honestly. Just a difficult, restless kid who fell into a restaurant kitchen in Provincetown because he had nowhere else to ...