Val (2021)

I absolutely balled my eyes out during my flight back to London after watching the documentary Val (2021), a very intimate and powerful viewing about the life and career of Hollywood star Val Kilmer.

Kilmer had an inventive side to him that started to show very early on and manifested through the lens of his camera, which would be ever present at home and on set, like a trusty sidekick.

Hours of “home made behind the scenes” footage were gathered over the years, bringing this documentary to life by revealing a very beautiful and raw look into the heart and mind of one of the most dedicated and popular actors of his generation.

Assembled and stitched together by the narrating voice of his son, Jack, the documentary takes us on a journey that begins by showing Val’s first signs of artistry at a very young age alongside his siblings, writing and staging amateur plays, recording goofball skits and toying with reality and the abstract via his vivid imagination.

Those early events would eventually lead him to continue developing his artistic vein and take him to Julliard, arguably the most renowned theater school in the world.

By that point suffering from personal tragedy, it was through acting that Kilmer would begin to try and heal his heart, later understanding that it would never be fully healed, but ready to love and embrace other challenges nevertheless.

During that process, Kilmer would reach many places - both physically and emotionally - bringing him much joy and influence over his continued evolution into the spiritual kind human being that he became so well-known to his family and friends.

Those of us on the "outside", however, didn’t really know much about Kilmer despite seeing him in some of the biggest blockbusters in years.

Much of his private life was kept… well… private! 

Even having met his wife - a fellow actor - on set, seemed somehow a “discreet” affair.

Many roles allowed him to travel through a plethora of characters and their lives, while setting him the opportunity to work with some of his heroes and even - as indicated before - meeting the mother of his children.

Like any story though, there were plenty of highs and lows, a lot of which really takes us to places where you get to relate or feel a tremendous amount of empathy, as Kilmer provokes you to undergo through some of the most intimate emotions. The need for love, the desire to live passionately, elevated by his fear of death, the struggles to keep balance within your family after loss or deceit, the frustrations of being misunderstood over your own personal passions...

All of which gets examined intimately, as we observe this eccentric, loving and gifted actor reveal a candid side that has been captured on camera and put together through collages like in a scrap book.

An absolute must see documentary, regardless of your own personal connection with the rebel, the entertaining, the mischievous, the only... Val Kilmer!