Val

I've been missing Val Kilmer & didn't know why he'd been absent. Now, I'm heartbroken for his struggle, & I appreciate him so very much. Bless him & all he has brought to us as a stunning dedicated actor.

A documentary about Val Kilmer with the voice of his son Jack, because Val Kilmer had throat cancer, is considered cancer-free since 2017, but his voice suffered from "extensive radiation and chemotherapy."

"Val" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July and is now available to watch on Amazon.

What you know about Val Kilmer as an actor and a person always depends on how much you've studied him.

I knew that Val Kilmer had his difficulties on some film shoots in the 90s with directors (e.g. John Frankenheimer - "The island of Dr. Moreau", Joel Schuhmacher - "Batman Forever") and some fellow actors, so it was difficult for him to find roles from the mid 90s and he appeared more and more in B-movies and indepentend films. Ok.

The documentary is told from his point of view and we learn quite a bit about his childhood, his family, his acting beginnings, his career highlights and his present (anno documentary).

With a running time of about 108 minutes, a rather quiet, prudent narrative reveals a man who does not necessarily reflect everything as it was at the time, but reflects on the stations of his life at that time and shows us more the current Val Kilmer and in rare footage the Val Kilmer of that time. As for disputes with fellow actors, Val Kilmer is silent. That is also not the subject of the documentary, the gossip press can report on it. As far as problems with directors are concerned, I think they are only mentioned in one film, but that's not the topic either.

Here an actor shows how he came to acting and what it means to him, in a retrospective with quiet tones. Sometimes it's hard to understand Val Kilmer himself when he's speaking, but it's the unpretentiousness here and there that makes this documentary work. Val Kilmer recorded an incredible amount of his life himself and the documentary shows very private footage of his childhood with his brothers, his parents and his acting, be it in his own home movies, applications for movies, his "practicing" lines from Hamlet, etc.

Overall, fascinating, very moving, informative and very interesting, this (self-)portrait of an actor and artist who has a great sense of family and an incredibly wide range of acting.

Recommended.

People giving this one star because "all people suffer". You clearly have lost your humanity somewhere. Disgusting. I can't believe the people posting "another millionaire who lost his money" BS on here are anything other than total sociopaths. You should be ASHAMED and horrified. This is a beautiful and vulnerable look at another human being and their life and struggles and triumphs. I suggest you see where you left your humanity along the way.

Went on a whim to see this movie expecting to learn a little about val kilmer... Was not expecting to feel so moved, heartbroken, inspired, & really just feel as emotional as i felt leaving the theater. A movie about acting , the creative process , overcoming the obstacles in front of us & continually moving forward despite of them. This movie really spoke to me ! Also loved that it was narrated by his son.

You infrequently see as honest a documentary as "Val," a life of Val Kilmer (Batman, Jim Morrison, et al.). In fact, because it is largely made up of his 40 years of self-videotaping, it has the feel of one of the most authentic autobiographies ever made. With his voice and his son, Jack's, it feels as if we are in his living room as they play the highlights of his glamorous career.

Although I was super pleased about Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain in its analysis of celebrity, Val crushes that doc with Kilmer's honest assessments of his life and his career without seemingly embellishing it or shaping it favorably. Bourdain's life has charm and a surface truth, but Val feels like Kilmer has let us into his soul for long enough to see a talented artist ceaselessly trying to interpret his chaotic world.

Although in his mature years he has suffered the loss of his voice from a procedure on his trachea for throat cancer, I can't find a word of bitterness that he has to stop his career and plug the hole in a voice box to talk, albeit scratchy and taking a while to get used to. He remains in his 60's searching the secrets of life, the best being honesty and love. Those are the two words to describe him and this doc.

For the more detail-desiring cinephiles less sentimental than I, this doc is full of off-camera insights: his longing to play Morrison and then his giving up his months' guitar practice to airplay the role, his confession that he couldn't act or move in that imprisoning Batman suit, his disappointment at the disastrous film The Island of Dr. Moreau and missing his chance to get close to his idol, Marlon Brando, his bonding as Iceman with Cruise, and so much more.

The footage of him arguing with director John Frankenheimer defines not so much Val's reputation for being difficult but rather his striving for perfection-A Juilliard grad, not a god.

Throughout this personal portrait of a star who fell from grace from bad choices (Willow, anyone?) and his own arrogance, Val Kilmer appreciates the gifts life has given him and its disappointments from which he becomes one of the most self-aware documentarians in his profession.

Val is a doc to be savored, and now that it is streaming on Prime, to be seen more than once. It's that good.