Val Kilmer is a weird dude. Not necessarily in a bad way, but having interviewed him at least three times (’96, ’97, and ’02 – can’t remember if we spoke for Heat in ’95) I can tell you that he seemed to enjoy making journalists a little uncomfortable with his inscrutable stare before breaking into his great big, toothy, movie star smile. He enjoyed being in control of how things went.
In the new documentary, Val, the Tinsel Town veteran is now a 61 year old cancer survivor who uses an artificial voice box to speak after having a tracheotomy, but he’s looking back to the kid who became the youngest person at the time to be accepted into the Juilliard School of Drama.
His ornery nature put him at odds with fellow actors and directors throughout his career, but when Kilmer goes way, way back to childhood, you learn that many of Val’s flashpoints were incidents well beyond his control: his younger brother Wesley, an epileptic, drowned in the Jacuzzi at the age of 15. His father, after Val had money to spare co-signed his son’s name to a host of shell companies that went under, leaving his son to either “sue or write a check.” And then there are things like making elaborate audition tapes for directors who didn’t ask for them, and having a nasty, public divorce.
All of these moments and many more are captured in the doc (of which he is one of the producers: control) that shows an endearing, pitiable side to someone who had never previously been accused of humility. Kilmer began videotaping himself when it was barely a thing, and he has saved everything in a storage space that serves as his archives. Boxes and boxes of videotapes and mementos from which a 1 hour and 48 minute bio-doc was culled.
Give the man credit for not making the movie an obsequious tribute to himself. Of course he is the hero of the story, but his flaws aren’t totally hidden. The movie gradually won me over- when we see Kilmer at tables signing autographs at events, you can’t help but feel sorry for the long drop in altitude he has endured, but the film stops well short of Pity Porn.
Jack Kilmer, his and actress Joanne Whalley’s 26 year old son narrates the parts that his Dad cannot, for obvious reasons – that was a nice touch.
Val is a weird dude. But Val shows us that there’s an important place for weird in his world. Go big or go home.
Val is currently available on Amazon Prime | 3 out of 4 Stars| Reviewed by Kyle Osborne
