Direction: Leo Scott, Ting Poo
Country: USA
This documentary, co-directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo, about the career successes and health struggles of American actor Val Kilmer, uses precious footage captured by the actor himself throughout the years, from family gatherings in his childhood (with the help of his two brothers) to auditions to the present time. 800 hours of footage were narrowed down to only 108 minutes, a fact that turned to be the best feat of the film.
Kilmer, who started being noticed in the mid-80s (primarily with Top Gun, 1986) and attained a career peak in the early 90s with his personification of Jim Morrisson in Martin Scorsese’s The Doors, (1991), fought an aggressive throat cancer that left him nearly speechless. Now, he uses a voice box to express himself but his son Jack narrates the film in his behalf.
As passionate about its subject as the actor was about acting, the film tells Kilmer’s story intimately, with compassion, without never going into unnecessary sentimentality. Yet, this self-portrait of the star is not as powerful as I had imagined, even losing its track a bit by the time that Kilmer’s film Cinema Twain (2019) is mentioned. It’s an OK watching, not a fascinating one.
