The day Robin Williams died (August 11, 2014), it almost felt like the whole world was affected, all at once. The mood of an entire planet seemed to collectively sink upon learning we had lost one of the few beacons of creative light that it seemed most every entertainment lover on this Earth had some kind of connection to.
Given that the cause of his death was almost immediately reported by the media as suicide, whispers of Williams’ addiction problems, paired with his mental health history, caused the widespread speculation that the comedian had lost a long battle with depression. In fact, Williams was simply never diagnosed for his true illness: Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), something his wife Susan Schneider Williams was not aware of until 2 months after the comedian’s death, when she was contacted by a coroner in October 2014.
The new documentary “Robin’s Wish,” takes an intimate look at the last days of the landmark performer’s life, primarily through the prism of his wife, but also friends, family, colleagues, and medical professionals. Overall, the doc is an affectionately tender and melancholic eulogy that also aims to educate its audience. However, some of the grief-stricken recollections may be tough for viewers who have experienced similar loss and pain to handle. Also, on the unfortunate side of things, the film initially appears to have a tight, insular focus, yet somehow ends up feeling slightly scattered after beginning to meander around its middle portion.
Much of the film takes viewers through the changing state of Williams’ health towards the tail end of his life. Creatives like Shawn Levy (“Night at the Museum”) and David E. Kelley (“The Crazy Ones”) sing praises about the actor’s amazing spirit and work commitment in his veteran years, while his oldest comedy friends reflect on the discovery of his manic genius, all noting that there came a point when Williams would find himself struggling with lines on set, expressing insecurity about his performances. As various people who spent a significant amount of time with Robin during his final days recount their memories, the movie inter-splices several neurological brain science interludes, which start just informative enough for viewers to grasp a hold on the requisite knowledge of William’s condition but are later prone to go on medical vocabulary-laden info dumps that become more difficult to follow as the doc jumps around.
Periodically going off on tangents about Williams’ history, such as his education at Juilliard and close friendship with Christopher Reeve (believe it or not, Robin Williams did not start on a path to comedy but took up stand-up after struggling to find more acting jobs, being trained in classical theater), the doc almost feels like it’s trying to pad itself at certain points. A brief bit lionizes William’s ongoing support of our armed forces. Later, the film returns to the comedian’s relationship with Reeve, telling the story of how Robin paid his old friend a visit in the guise of a Russian doctor after his 1995 equestrian accident. While these bits are earnest and, of course, earned, considering the icon they revolve around, they don’t have much to do with the comedian’s final days, ceasing to add much substance to the documentary after a point, only serving to reiterate Robin’s admirable character qualities over and over, heroic qualities that most viewers will no doubt already be aware of – but you can only thank your personal Superman so many times before that power is numbed.
A big part of the doc’s agenda is no doubt to raise awareness of LBD itself, but the medically concerned side of the proceedings is not the film’s main focus, celebrating the love spread by the unfortunately ill party at its center is. Comprehensive, but teetering on the edge of losing the audience at points, the medical information is prone to come quickly and is not well-incorporated into the flow of the narrative, which would better allow audiences to fully ingest the concepts. The final science dump at the tail-end of the doc is wisely filtered through Susan William’s perspective though, making it easier for the audience to understand certain particulars of the disease that took the inspiring comedian’s life, even highlighting medical text relevant to Robin’s particular case.
When your standard of living has fallen so out of your control, when everyday functionality becomes so poor there is no longer seems to be such a thing as personal fulfillment, even the brightest of stars can lose the capacity to keep going. Despite his incredible strength, sadly, there is little more than authentic words from the heart to make “Robin’s Wish” stand out as more than an emotionally affecting TV special. Huge fans of the performer will likely shed tears at few parts throughout, but there’s nothing especially unique or particularly thought-provoking about first-time director Tylor Norwood‘s filmmaking approach to make his documentary stand out. [C+]
“Robin’s Wish” is available on VOD now.