by Robert Bouffard, Editor
“We’re here, we do stuff, and we’re gone,” says Robert Downey Jr. in Sr., the new Netflix documentary about his own dad, Robert Downey Sr. The quote concisely states the film’s overall thesis in Jr.’s ever-pragmatic yet charming way of speaking. While modern audiences are easily more familiar with Jr. thanks to his longtime role as Tony Stark in the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, he ultimately takes a tertiary role in this doc, in which Jr. himself aims to understand his father.
Downey Sr. is most known for his decades of filmmaking outside of the Hollywood system. Even if you’ve never seen one of his movies, this documentary will give you a nice primer. He spent much of his career making provocative, singular films (and the sections of this film that feel more like a history lesson than an exploration of a relationship are some of its weaker points). From the beginning of the ‘60s until the end of the ‘90s, it seems like most of his life was spent either on a film set, or editing what he’d most recently shot. As a result of this, his son also spent much of his childhood around the act of filmmaking, even when he was too young to fully understand what was going on.
These conditions ingrained filmmaking into Jr., so much so that as he knew his father was aging and beginning to deteriorate due to Parkinson’s disease, he wanted to make a reflexive documentary about Sr.’s life and their unique relationship. Consequently, a lot of the film is just the two of them talking to each other on the phone, or staged interactions in which they, and other members of the family, discuss what their lives have been like. At once, it feels a little too much like a home movie (the budget and financing of one of the most successful and profitable movie stars excepted), while also feeling like the only way for this family to tell such a story, or explore such topics.
If it wasn’t for Iron Man saving his career, Jr. might be best known for the struggles he went through with drugs in the ‘90s. Well, part of the reason why he had those struggles in the first place was because his dad was so cavalier with his own drug use; he admits to giving Jr. marijuana at six years old. For a movie that positions itself in a place where it gives a façade of introspection and reparation, these events are explored much less in-depth than you’d expect. It’s not out of some TMZ-like curiosity to say that it could have improved the film; it’s in feeling that the doc itself lacks a bit of bite. The relationship between Sr. and Jr. as portrayed throughout the film seems quite formal and affected at times, and it doesn’t feel too out of line to suggest that is because they have gone through some hard times together. So the doc simultaneously is an honest, raw portrayal, and still feels like it’s missing something.
But even though it’s missing its edge, there’s still something fascinating and wholesome about Sr. As Jr. sits next to his father during what could likely be their final moments together, there are two cameras in the room, capturing every moment of their conversation. And when Sr. takes a nap, Jr. comes back in with his eight-year-old son, and the cameras continue rolling as the three generations sit silently together. Sr. himself was heavily involved in the creation of this film, but not unlike Dick Johnson Is Dead from 2020, this feels like his grown son’s film through and through. In an oddly beautiful way, though, it feels like this is the only way to truly make an honest film about their lives. So much of themselves has been filtered through cameras and microphones, that it seems like the only way they really know how to communicate, and that they wouldn’t be able to be themselves without the cameras in the room.
Sr. is a somber yet celebratory look at the relationship between a parent and a child — one that lasted nearly 60 years. Despite the disparity in wealth and recognition between the Downeys and the average person, the struggles are the same. The feelings are universal. Thankfully, their relationship was able to be rebuilt before the end of Sr.’s life in 2021, and there’s no lack of gratefulness for that, which is what makes Sr. such a solid film.
Score: 7/10
Sr. is currently streaming on Netflix
You can follow Robert Bouffard on Twitter and Letterboxd