Val: An Intimate And Introspective Vanity Project That Holds A Mirror Up To Kilmer's Career
Venture into the mind of Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most capricious and charismatic actors, with the latest Prime Video documentary, Val. Constructed out of hundreds of hours of footage Kilmer shot himself, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to his time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever, Val peels back the layers to the often misunderstood thespian while still remaining largely at surface level.
Documentary centering on the daily life of actor Val Kilmer featuring never-before-seen footage spanning 40 years.
Easily one of the best things Val Kilmer has done in his late career (in our opinion) is a joyously absurd Harmony Korine short film called Lotus Community Worship (for the anthology series The Fourth Dimension), which twisted Kilmer’s personality in very entertaining and humorous ways and found the aged actor reclaiming some of his faded starlight. And interesting enough, Kilmer’s documentary “tell-all,” Val, has Harmony Korine roots (although it goes undiscussed in the film); Leo Scott, one of the film’s credited co-directors, was working as an editor on Korine’s short when he came across Kilmer’s massive archive of 800+ hours of footage, which Kilmer had shot for years, chronicling his childhood, his time at Juilliard, his auditions, career, and family life. Basically, it would seem Kilmer was never without a camera by his side for some reason, yet the footage was sitting in boxes for decades, and for a long time it seemed like it would stay that way.
Ironically, in a very Val Kilmer move, it wasn’t until he was nearly voiceless that he decided to finally share his story with the world in an attempt to be understood. In 2014, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer, resulting in chemotherapy and two tracheotomies, and while he can (and does) speak, albeit in a very mangled rasp, he leaves a majority of the talking to the archival footage and his son Jack, who narrates this surprisingly intimate yet largely surface-level vanity project with his father’s own words. Kilmer has now been cancer free for roughly five years, but still has to use a feeding tube because he cannot eat, and while so much has clearly changed in his life, what remains the same is his childlike spirit, tenacity, and charisma, all of which is beautifully captured here. With unflinching honesty (and a bit of deflection), Kilmer opens the curtains on his astonishing life and career to discuss the heartbreak and triumphs he’s encountered along the way.
Acting and moviemaking were formative to Kilmer’s youth, and it seemed at an early age that he would be destined for great things. He would make silly home movies with his brothers, Mark and Wesley, the latter being the major creative force of the trio, according to Kilmer. Unfortunately, Wesley, who suffered from epilepsy, drowned in the family jacuzzi at the age 15, and his death left a permanent mark on Kilmer and the family. However, Kilmer pushed through the pain and brought a lot of Wesley into his Art (as he points out in the film). In Juilliard, as a beautiful baby-faced man, Kilmer dug deep into his craft, and he began his career with the best of intentions. He wanted to create performances that oozed a palpable honesty and uncovered truths to their viewers, yet things didn’t always go that way. In fact, when he was just a pair of lips crammed into a Batsuit, stiff and immobile, he found out firsthand how difficult and frustrating Hollywood could be in comparison to his artistic goals.
And yet, as open and honest as Val is, there’s a closed off, dismissiveness to it as well. Particularly, the way the film deals with the claims that Kilmer was “difficult,” which he most certainly was, by brushing it off with, “I just care a lot.” Maybe so, but the methods in which he showed he cared could sometimes be more destructive than anything else. It’s well documented that the 1996 remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau, which Kilmer co-starred in alongside a well-beyond-his-prime Marlon Brando (who Kilmer admired), was a major disaster. It’s also well documented that Kilmer tormented the film’s initial director Richard Stanley (as well as being difficult with several other cast and crew), which was a contributing factor to Stanley being fired from the project. Kilmer has since apologized for his actions, but he doesn’t address this or any of the other claims of being difficult to work with in any satisfying way. Perhaps, that’s because Stanley is undeserving of any more attention in the wake of the abuse allegations that recently surfaced against him, or maybe it’s because Kilmer has commented on them so much in the past; who knows. Either way, it would have been nice to have a more honest appraisal of them and a bit of remorse, but alas!
Kilmer has had an amazing career; he’s left an indelible mark on film and theatre, and he’s touched a lot of hearts along the way. He shows a humbleness and an appreciation for the life he has, and more importantly for the fans who adore him, and while he shares a fair amount, there’s still a lot more room for introspection. As much as we were left wanting more, there’s still a lot of layers to peel back with Val, and there’s an undeniable heartfelt and intimate quality to the film, from the way Kilmer shares his life to the fact that he hand draws the film’s titles, that makes this an entertaining enough watch.
Recommendation: If you’re a fan of celebrity documentaries or the incredibly charismatic Val Kilmer, definitely give Val a watch.
Rating: 3 VHS cameras outta 5.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!