Irreverent, cathartic, messy, deeply emotional. From the stage at the AFI FEST film festival in Los Angeles, Robert Downey Jr. He thanked people for wanting to see the black-and-white documentary he produced about his father, Robert Downey, and at the same time, jester that he is, he took the opportunity to lament dramatically that his privacy has definitely been violated . “Welcome to all within my family, I have nothing more to show.”
It is true that there are parts of Mr in which he is seen very raw, getting a little angry with his father, an experimental filmmaker who represented the counterculture of the 60s and 70s by showing bizarre characters in his films, where Robert made his first appearances as an actor and where also has his mother, Elsie Ford, acted.
Above all, there is a song that her father makes her sing several times for the documentary, against her will, only to then burst out laughing when he looks at her from her bed, already prostrated by Parkinson’s.
The first surprise for the Chinese Theater audience was seeing Iron Man with a shaved head. Later it would be known that his children had shaved her and that is due to the role that Robert will have in an HBO series. He would wear his new look the next day, entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last last. He is a darling of Hollywood. At the antipodes of the tastes of his father, who hated Los Angeles and loved New York.
humor as heritage
It’s very interesting to see where Robert Downey Jr’s talent, bravado, and dark sense of humor come from. His mother, who wasn’t very well known until now, was also very funny. Everything is exposed, the freshness, the spontaneity of those very hippie years and also the traumas that his father caused him by introducing him into the world of drugs, almost without realizing it, putting him in a spiral from which it was difficult for him to get out.
It’s like Robert Downey Sr. doesn’t take responsibility for the things he’s done. But this documentary, which spanned the pandemic and his Parkinson’s-affected final years, leading up to his death in July 2021, allowed him to revisit moments in his life and reconnect with his son and grandchildren.
A creative torch passed from generation to generation. If Indio, the son of Robert Downey Jr’s first marriage, also contributes to the film which opens this weekend Netflix with the song Gone. “Listen to it, it’ll give you context,” the actor suggests.
a farewell in time
Robert and his wife, producer Susan Downey, started the project in 2019 as a tribute to the actor to his father. At some point there was a change and suddenly they were showing the last act of the director, not only of his career, but of his life on this planet. There are sad scenes, of course, where father, son and grandson embrace knowing that time is running out. But there are also many laughs. And bewilderment.
Both Susan and director Chris Smith admit they didn’t know how the film would end. Robert had his ideas and his father had other ideas, so he asked him to film an alternate version. The narrative is a bit chaotic, going from one to the other, but it’s entertaining and certainly very sentimental.
Surreal is his father’s approach to cinema and also the feeling Downey Jr. says he felt when he realized that what he was filming was happening in real time.
“About the end, thanks to Chris’ direction, my dad says he’s at peace with his life, that what’s meant to happen, happens.” He knows it’s goodbye, and he can be seen crying as he discusses all of this with his psychologist via Zoom. She is open, vulnerable, more human than ever. Jon Favreau, the assistant to his Iron Man alter ego Tony Stark, acknowledges that he knows a lot about the family, but that the documentary opened his eyes, as if Robert had saved himself to put the last piece of the puzzle there.
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Source: Clarin
