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Robert Downey Jr’s documentary tribute to his filmmaker father, Sr, is many things. It’s a parent-child story, an insight into the life of an artist, but more than anything else, it’s a macabre (but crucially not morose) contemplation of death. The movie has a life of its own; it evolves as it goes along, never quite settling down. Just like Sr himself.
In its final moments, the film takes a wholly unexpected form, as it trains the camera on a dying man, fielding innocuous questions from a son he doesn’t recognise but can’t stop talking about. It’s a moment more raw than any documentary filmmaker could have ever expected to capture, despite being so obviously manufactured. It leaves you wondering if you’re an intruder, as you watch three generations of Downey men hug it out over a deathbed.
Downey says that he didn’t know what shape the film would eventually take three years ago, when they began filming shortly after his father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. But a part of him must’ve always known that he had tasked director Chris Smith (American Movie, Bad Vegan) with documenting his dad’s death. Ahead of their final meeting in New York, Downey’s son, Exton, tells the camera rather casually that he wants to spend as much time with his grandpa before he ‘passes’. But as uncomfortable as these scenes might feel, there’s a tenderness to Jr and Sr’s final moments together, as they mend fences that were broken decades ago.
“It was stupid of me to expose him to drugs,” Sr says in one scene, making a reference to perhaps the most infamous story about him that you might have read. An ‘underground filmmaker’ who operated mainly out of New York back in the 60s and 70s, Robert Downey Sr allowed his life to spiral out of control when he shifted base to Hollywood for over a decade. This was where his son, the star we know and love, developed a drug habit that nearly killed him, after famously being introduced to marijuana by his dad at the age of four.
On several occasions in the film, Downey makes passing references about his addiction, without ever going into any detail. He has no obligation to, of course. Similarly, a lot is left unsaid in his phone conversations with his father; Downey Sr has a habit of deflecting at the first sign of introspection. But later, in a chat with his therapist, Downey breaks down when he is reminded that he is a survivor, and that he is trying his best to do for his own son what his father couldn’t for him. This is the only time we see him cry. Downey is otherwise unrelenting chipper whenever he’s on screen, but Smith makes the astute choice to pan to his fidgety hands in certain stressful moments.
In the film’s opening moments, Sr attempts to ‘direct’ the crew on how to film a simple scene in which Downey asks him and his life partner how long they’ve been together. Sr seems satisfied with take three. Later, when he’s on his deathbed, he asks his son what the weather is like. When Downey tells him it’s cold outside, Sr remarks that the natural light would be ideal for a day of filming. This is how his mind works. And Downey humours him, right till the end.
There is an attempt, however slight, to mimic Sr’s filmmaking style in the documentary itself, which goes beyond Smith’s basic decision to present it in black-and-white. It’s non-liner, and a part of it is shot on 16 mm. But perhaps the most endearing arcs in it is when the filmmakers encourage Sr to prepare his own cut of the footage being filmed. It’s sweet to see that the ‘movie’ he assembles appear to revolve around him and his son.
Sr
Director – Chris Smith
Cast – Robert Downey Jr, Robert Downey Sr
Rating – 4/5
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