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To most people, Robert Downey Sr. is just the father of Robert Downey jr.,
which makes documentary Sr. all the more important in educating people on who Sr was.
‘Success may bust over his head like a call of thunder if he isn't careful and he's a talented underground filmmaker named Robert Downey.'
But, however interesting a birth to death documentary would be,
it wouldn’t be appropriate for a man who defined counterculture filmmaking in the 60s and 70s,
making films that were the antithesis of those for which his son has become so well known,
not just in terms of budget but because the Marvel franchise is perhaps the most minutely pre-planned cinematic venture ever conceived,
while Sr’s approach was a little different.
‘You didn’t know where the story would go, you didn’t know there was a story.’
This was never going to be a standard documentary as it is produced and really driven by jr,
as much for his benefit as the audience’s
‘I’m very interested in who my Dad is in the here and now.’
but, perhaps inevitably, someone as creative as Sr was never going to sit back and be the subject,
‘See I think we should switch seats.’
initially involving himself in the direction, and then...
‘He would rather be doing a film about something else, than allow a documentary to be made about him,
'so the middle ground has been, he’s going to be doing his own version.’
So the documentary becomes part making-of for the far less traditional film that Sr is making.
'Solarium, Aquarium, Sanaterium'
And I genuinely can’t think of anything more appropriate for a filmmaker with such an irreverent style,
'You can't eat.'
but who never the less said things and things that no one else was saying,
‘Putney was right in the middle of all that Civil Rights turmoil’
Even if he did his best to play it down.
‘Did people ascribe meaning to your movies?’ ‘Oh God, I hope not.’
And the same is true of the documentary; for all its lack of convention,
‘It’s pretty clear we know what we’re doing here, right?’
'We have to know something.'
It has much to say, most poignantly about the relationship between father and son.
‘I knew that we were not like the other families’
Jr’s first screen credit was in his father’s Pound,
a seldom shown film for which I have a bizarre affection and he grew up in that world,
‘so I got very used to falling asleep to the sound calp boards.’# for better and worse. ‘I think we would be remiss to not disc
for better and worse.
‘I think we would be remiss to not discuss its effect on me.’
‘Yeah well I would sure love to miss that discussion.’
And father and son in some ways have a shared story arc.
‘I was a drug addict’
The poignancy is increased by the fact that Sr was suffering from Parkinsons,
‘I think I have to face my problem and just cutaway to the shakes I get sometimes’
and the lengthy filming period
‘This is year 3 of shooting the daddy doc.’
charts his decline.
And whether that was something on jr’s mind at the start of the project,
it becomes more and more its focus.
And yet, I would hesitate to call it a memorial,
not just because of its humour and the documentary aspects that do manage to slip in,
‘I used my stepfather’s name to get into the army underage with a fake birth certificate.’
but because it’s hard to call something a memorial when it’s subject just won’t stop
and is actively turning it into something else.
‘What he’s trying to do is turn the camera on what he’s trying to say. What that is remains to be seen.’
and I can’t help wondering if either man understood how revealing this would be of the son as much as the father.
‘And it was the first time that pop ever noticed something I was doing outside of his movies had some merit’
While attention has rightly and reasonably been focused on the two Roberts,
huge credit should got director Chris Smith and his editors who have managed to find a film that unites the visions of both father and son,
in a way that seems very true to Sr’s filmmaking ethos.
‘It’s called follow the film.’
If you want a documentary that tells you all about the life and work of Robert Downey Sr, this is not it,
if you want one that tells about the man… this is closer while maintaining the enigma.
‘Who is this guy?’ ‘I’ll never know.’
But if you want a film about a father and son, this is moving, entertaining, and as freewheeling as its subject deserves.
I loved it.
Thanks for watching. Have you seen Sr? What did you think of it?
What are the documentaries that best capture the spirit of their subject? Let us know in the comments below.