Val (2021)

August 11, 2021 9:47 AM

Documentary centering on the daily life of actor Val Kilmer featuring never-before-seen footage spanning 40 years.

Well - I am less than 11m in, and immediately felt that this deserves a post - I rarely watch biographies and documentaries, but I guess I won't be doing much work this afternoon.

posted by rozcakj (5 comments total)

I liked it, but I guess I felt like it was a little disconnected. Val as the throughline is interesting, and it's certainly a meditation on aging and building a life as youthful beauty fades. Ultimately, I wasn't sure what else was tying it together. I would have liked to hear more from his son than the narration- to what degree did the son's experience with his father mirror Val's experience with his parents? To what degree did his method acting approach get played out in this movie? Is he really the character he's playing here?

I guess I felt that they left some really interesting threads unpulled- but it was certainly an interesting watch.
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:37 PM on August 12, 2021 [3 favorites]

Well - I really enjoyed it - but, I don't necessarily look deeper - so, I thought it was heartfelt - and for me - insightful (for a year or two, I would always wonder... where did Val go?) - possibly because I don't have that critical an eye or am not used to digging for further meaning. (I tend to take things as presented - surface-level, and go deeper if I revisit - or I think about it for awhile after-the-fact).
posted by rozcakj at 3:10 PM on August 13, 2021 [1 favorite]

I haven’t forgiven Val Kilmer since sabotaging Richard Stanley’s passion project, The Island of Dr. Moreau. Will watching this doc change my views about him? For me, he epitomizes the worst of Hollywood entitlement and its star system.
posted by cazoo at 5:05 AM on August 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

forgiven Val Kilmer since sabotaging Richard Stanley’s passion project

Oh... a few searches later, wow... yuck.
posted by rozcakj at 9:35 AM on August 17, 2021

Here's a good article about the horror show of the Dr. Moreau production; there's also a documentary about that. Yeah: wow and yuck is about right. Kilmer wasn't the only problem but he sure was a main one. Apparently there's some of Kilmer's footage of himself being a jerk during that production in this film.
posted by mediareport at 2:05 AM on August 22, 2021