During a recent interview on the Adam Carolla Podcast, director James Toback, who worked with boxer Mike Tyson and Robert Downey Jr. in his film Black and White, declared that Tyson had “character,” adding that he was not sure if Downey had the same.
Carolla responded as if it were a slam against Downey, which it may have sounded like until Toback struggled to explain his statement to mean that there is a sort of magnetic draw to Tyson the person which Downey may only posses with his acting. It very may well have been taken as a compliment by Downey; while the actor may have had his public stumbles, he’s been nowhere near the lightning rod of controversy that has followed Tyson throughout his life.
It is this “character” which prompted Toback to focus his lens solely on the subject in his latest documentary, Tyson. Punctuated with small clips of archival footage, Tyson simply allows the man himself to analyze his life, his career, and himself. The result is at turns revealing and insightful, yet at the end we do not feel much closer to the subject, only catching glimpses of the deep psychological scars that may never heal.
Toback uses an overlapping narrative, filling the screen, Brady Bunch-style, with several shots of the same interview and allowing his answers to overlap one another on the soundtrack, as if to represent the multiple voices within Tyson’s own head, alternately shouting to be heard.
He appears today a manifestation of his legend. His face inked with his Maori tribal tattoo pokes out of a smartly dressed, physically impressive 40-something looking like he’s dressed for casual Friday at the office.
The chapters of his life covered are his early rise to prominence, his rape conviction, his tumultuous relationship with promoter and manager Don King and his attempt to reclaim former glory. Each segment teeters on the edge of full-blown confessional, but, like the sort in which he excels, he knows just when to protect himself and keep guard of the more damaging blows. For instance, when the name Deseree Washington comes up (the former Miss USA contestant for which Tyson was found guilty of raping), he refers to her as a “wretched swine,” and his anger starts to flood forth like a flurry of head blows. The same anger starts to seep out when King is the subject , who Tyson claims siphoned almost his entire fortune.
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