The new documentary from Chris Smith is something very special indeed and something far removed by complete intention from the majority of film-making documentaries that it is on paper akin to. The film is in some ways a chronicle of the life and career of Robert Downey Sr. directed by Smith, but produced and led in many ways on screen and off by Robert Downey Jr. But as the film continues down it’s ever irreverent and deeply heartfelt journey into the final years of the man’s life, as well as the relationship between a father and a son, we come to learn that this is in many ways as experimental a conceit as any of Sr’s best films were.
Tender, irreverent, witty and brave would be the four best words to describe this odd-ball documentary that is conceived as a piece about a legendary film-maker of the counter culture, but made with incredible insight and openness by those involved, and most importantly in its biggest success built around an ingenious conceit. The conceit is that frankly the subject of the film has very little interest it seems in the sort of film that Smith and Downey Jr. intend to make and so in a bargain of sorts, Robert Downey Sr. is allowed the room and chance to make his own version. This choice is documented and presented by Smith as the experimental pulse of the film and a perfect encapsulation of the vastly influential life and career that Sr. led. The film however also manages to work in a good healthy amount of talking heads from figures involved in the life of Downey Sr. as well as footage from his own films, as well those that were inspired by him, as well as interviews from and beyond the time of his career. The film is almost in thirds in this way. With the talking heads and the relevant footages one can find in here the sort of cradle to grave career documentary that works as a perfect prologue into the life of this man. However on the other hand the film has two other thirds, that of Sr’s cut and making that version of the film, offering us one last chance to see in real time a film-maker make creative decisions, as well as an imperative final third that works as a core, a collection of conversations and comments with Jr. and Sr. This is the heart and the emotional core of the film and it’s what makes the film the touching success that it is, however overall it is the combination of these three elements that make for a wonderfully inventive and very entertaining, as well as impactful, blast of a documentary that really does fly by.
If anything the
film’s biggest downfall in some way’s is how it seems in the final cut Smith
pulls his punches in his conceit, by not showing us very much overall of Sr’s
cut. Perhaps on a sombre note what we saw, was all that there was, due to Sr’s
declining health that is painfully chronicled here. But if there was more
footage or more of a clear dividing line between Smith’s and Downey’s movie it
could have been possibly a more exciting piece. Not that this isn’t exciting
film-making, it’s incredibly entertaining and eventually incredibly emotionally
effecting work that succeeds a great deal, but that inherent conceit is so
juicy a concept, one can’t help but feel it’s a little underserved in the final
product. Overall however the film does succeed in making a visceral, vulnerable
and as light-hearted as it is deeply emotional tale of life as well as grief,
of the personal and of the professional. Downey Jr. comments at the end of the
film, in footage from after Sr’s death (a factor that was regrettably inbound,
but most likely not planned for the film itself in its original form) that the
team behind the film “had no overt agenda” in making it. You feel that in the
best possible way. As a piece of craft and as a piece of consistency, this is
far from the best documentary you’ll see this year. But in regards to innovation,
wit, charm, pain and wisdom; you can seriously do far worse than this wonderful
little film.
A wonderful 8/10 documentary that is equal parts experimental and built on façade, as it is ultimately very involving and very vulnerably presented. There is no vanity, there is no agenda, there is only a brilliant idea very well brought to the screen that will serve oddly perfectly for a final ode of sorts to this legendary film-maker of the counter-culture. As a piece about family it’s well-judged to a fault and as a piece about a film-maker it’s an ideal balance of the facts and the personal. It’s a wonderful film, equal parts entertaining and devastating.
P.S. With Netflix purchasing the streaming rights for this film, it will receive undoubtedly a bigger audience. So why does Netflix not take full advantage and get the rights to the whole Downey catalogue. Who after watching this film would not want to go straight into a watch or rewatch Putney Swope?
- - Thomas Carruthers
0 Comments