Watch movies via Labia Home Screen*.

Robert Downey Jr. has become one of the highest-paid talents across the globe, becoming the poster boy for Marvel with his role as Tony Stark and Iron Man. The most famous Robert Downey, the film’s minimalist title Sr. is set up as a counterpoint to Jr. since which other junior would we be talking about? While RDJ leverages his fame by introducing this documentary directed by Chris Smith, he serves as a sounding board, attempting to redirect the spotlight and there to coax out the real Robert Downey Sr. It turns out that Jr. owes much of his passion for film to his namesake, a filmmaker whose ’60s and ’70s countercultural comedy and experimental films have influenced many, including Paul Thomas Anderson.

Having started his career as a child actor in his father’s movies, Sr. offers some curious insights into Robert Downey Jr’s upbringing as well as his difficult relationship with his father. Having both gone through a number of drug-addled years with Sr. admitting to a 15-year period, this retrospective isn’t aiming for rose-tinted. Creating the improvisational documentary in order to pay due respect to Sr’s life, career and legacy, this unconventional mostly black-and-white biographical documentary shapeshifts into something special.

After getting the ball rolling, Sr. captures candid moments shared between the two over the years whether in person or over the phone. A warm, familiar father-son bond, Sr. is a touching retrospective that covers the late director’s film career with excerpts from his colourful and eclectic filmography including: Chafed Elbows, Pound, Putney Swope and Greaser’s Palace. While an inspired choice to direct the ill-fated Mad magazine film, Up the Academy, this turkey is skipped over for obvious reasons.

Covering three generations with Jr. featured hanging out with his son Exton and later his grandfather too, this documentary isn’t simply about a father-son relationship. Family is a crucial element to Sr.. Robert Downey Jr’s biological mother and Sr’s second wife factor in, from a livewire actor-director pairing to a heartbreaking battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Sr. is further shaded by health as Robert Downey Sr. struggles with mobility as his Parkinson’s worsens.

“Robert… *spoiler alert* I am your father.”

While Sr. could have focused on digging up dirt from the past, these aspects are alluded to by the unspoken in expressions. Wanting to serve as a celebration of Robert Downey Sr’s life, a more subtle approach is taken, giving the pioneering writer-director a chance to flex his creative abilities. Robert Downey Sr. decides (or is humoured and given the opportunity) to create a film within a film as a self-portrait. Taking behind-the-scenes shots of the filmmaking process, Sr. has a curious perspective flipping between the two ambitions quite dexterously, tempered with a good sense of humour.

This tender yet irreverent documentary is entertaining, intimate and soulful – not unlike Jonah Hill’s interview style documentary, Stutz. A desire to capture life moments with a desire to encapsulate and immortalise Robert Downey Sr. compels this heartfelt film. There’s an unabashed spontaneity to it all, piecing together these fragments in the editing room and punctuated by choice excerpts from his films in a chronological order.

A fiercely independent New Yorker, the pairing may be on either sides of the Hollywood spectrum and even country, but they share a fiery, unpredictable and irreverent joie de vivre. This passion, connection and mutual respect grows stronger as the snapshots converge, Yusuf / Cat Steven’s music fades in and the hours run out. A meandering and soul-searching black-and-white documentary, it serves as a nostalgic throwback to the yesteryear of filmmaking as well as a collaborative and sentimental memoir to a bold writer-director, a tried-and-tested New Yorker and a difficult-to-know father.

The bottom line: Nostalgic

Catch more movie reviews at SPL!NG

Stephen ‘Spling’ Aspeling is 2Oceansvibe’s Resident Film Critic, a “thought leader” (AFDA) and “our generation’s Barry Ronge” (Brothers Streep), who continues to review, write, present, promote and adjudicate film for a host of websites, radio stations, magazines, newspapers, TV shows, festivals and events.

*Watch great cinema online with Labia Home Screen! The Labia Theatre is an iconic independent theatre at 68 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town. They recently celebrated their 70th year and have successfully transitioned to digital projectors. In addition to their 4 cinemas, they’ve now added a “5th” screen by launching their Home Screen pay-per-view video-on-demand streaming service.

Labia Home Screen enables viewers to watch the theatre’s carefully curated content from the comfort of their home from anywhere in South Africa. As they open their box office in what will be a new normal, this convenient streaming service is helping the much-loved cinema continue to provide high quality, award-winning films to their loyal patrons.