As a mom, I rarely have time to sit down and enjoy a nice movie. My days are usually a mix of rushing to get out the door in the morning and begging Sophia to finally go to bed at night. Therefore, I'm extremely picky when it comes to my down time and what I choose to fill it with.
I recently decided to watch VAL - a documentary on the life and career of Val Kilmer, an actor I grew up watching and kind of crushing on for a while. I know Tom Cruise was the lead in Top Gun but who can forget Kilmer's character and piercing blue eyes? 😉
Photo Source: IMDB
The movie is divided into a few chapters - each one of them focuses on a person, event, movie that has influenced the actor's life and career path. I'll do a quick breakdown but I don't want to reveal everything in detail. It's an emotional journey I feel is worth discovering by yourself.
The documentary starts with the introduction of Val's son, Jack, who is also the narrator since Kilmer's lost most of his voice following a throat cancer surgery and chemotherapy. We see plenty of footage of the actor and his son throughout the movie, showing the tight bond between the two.
Photo Source: Amazon Prime
Right off the bat, we are thrown into the deep, so to speak, as we are told the story of the Kilmer brothers and the death of the actor's younger brother, Wesley. This is the first major event that affected Val - which he confesses later on. We also see Wesley's art shown a few times during the footage and notice Val's brother's drawings are featured in the movie "Real Genius".
Several more events are presented along the way - his marriage, his divorce, his mother's death etc...All of these have molded the actor into the person he is today. I used to think he was stuck up - at least that's what was vastly conveyed by the media at the time. After watching this little sneak peak into his life, let's just say it makes me wonder how many other famous people we fail to fully understand.
The documentary focuses on some of his biggest roles as well as their impact on his career and personal life. We are shown a lot of behind the scenes footage for movies like Batman Forever (you can clearly hear sadness in Val's voice as he's comparing the performances by Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey to his own), Top Gun (talking about his rise to stardom), The Doors (a role he had to play), The Island of Dr. Moreau (a movie he was extremely excited to do as Marlon Brando was one of his heroes).
Throughout the movie, we see a lot of recent videos with his son, Jack and his daughter, Mercedes as well as some Comic-Con footage with fans.
To recap, this is a great documentary - very personal, extremely emotional and very well executed. It's a heartbreaking journey that takes you through the ups and downs of being a Hollywood actor and the losses we all have to deal with at some point in our lives. It also presents you with a rare glimpse of this real, raw side of Val Kilmer - another thing the media misinterpreted.
Photo Source: Amazon Prime