TMS Movie Review: Sr.
(Team Downey / Netflix)
In true showbiz fashion, the best way for a father and son in film to fittingly bond during the former’s final years is while making a movie together. Robert Downey, Jr. is now one of the most famous movie stars alive and has arguably the greatest comeback story in Hollywood history, going from Oscar nominee to prison inmate to Marvel leading man. But before all the fame and fortune, he was to a lot of people in NYC and LA—as he refers to himself on camera in Chris Smith’s new documentary Sr.—“just Bob Downey’s kid.” Robert Downey, Sr. was next to John Cassavetes and Andy Warhol as one of the most prominent directors in independent filmmaking throughout the 1960s and 1970s. These days I think it’s safe to say his son has completely eclipsed him in popularity. As we see in Smith’s doc, that appears to be totally fine with both men. RDS has never been interested in superstardom and RDJ is comfortable in front of the camera, hence him going into acting rather than directing and/or writing.
Sr. is in simplest terms a loving farewell from RDJ [Robert] to RDS [known as Bob or Senior in his later years] before he would succumb to Parkinson’s. There is some of RDJ’s rise from Hollywood kid to lead actor, but the primary focus is seeing RDS’ legacy and career through both his own eyes and his son’s; as well as childhood memories growing up in an artsy environment with a writer-director dad and actress mom [Elsie Downey]. We get nostalgic and realistic accounts of RDS as both an artist and parent, with the younger Downey sharing how exciting and educational it was growing up on film sets and around other creative people. But also acknowledges how unorthodox it was to regularly be near alcohol and drugs as a child. Of course recaps on the rise of RDS’ legacy with cult films like Chafed Elbows (1966), Pound (1970), Greaser’s Palace (1972) and his landmark Putney Swope (1969) are also included.
(Everett)
Smith appropriately shoots the family portrait with both B&W and color cinematography to reflect the careers and home lives of the Downeys. The most interesting aspects of Sr. to me are the too-brief sections on Elsie and on RDS’ second wife Laura Ernst, during which we learn RDJ got his famous wit more from Elsie than his dad. There’s a nice ode to Laura as well, who was a positive influence on RDS and son, and sadly died of ALS in 1994. Naturally, RDS’ widow Rosemary Rogers and RDJ’s current wife and production partner Susan Downey [née Levin] show up too. In general, Sr. is clearly a family affair filled with people who want to leave the impression that they are a tight knit group. Robert & Susan’s children Exton and Avri appear, as does RDJ’s sister Allyson. Robert’s oldest son, Indio, from his past marriage to Deborah Falconer, co-contributes the song ‘Gone’ performed by Keith Nelson during the end credits. Though, I have to say my favorite part of Sr. was RDJ bluntly claiming filmmaker and former RDS protégé P.T. Anderson is Senior’s dream son.
While Sr. is a nice, smooth 89 minutes, there were a few times I wished Smith and the Downeys had gone into more depth. Such as clarifying how cinema icons and commentators Norman Lear and Alan Arkin are connected to RDS personally and professionally or why exactly RDS and Elsie’s marriage ended. I also would have loved to have heard what RDS’ initial reaction or thought was when his son earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin (1992) and when he became the face of Iron Man in 2008. But since this is a family heavy effort, we get a carefully crafted retrospective from all involved. All in all, Sr. is touching and well-made enough a viewing for people who are interested in either Downey men.