Despite being vanguards of modern cinema, A24 rarely stepped their foot into documentaries. Over the course of their first 100 releases, only 5 were non-fiction. This selectivity would help audiences suggest that they choose their topics meticulously, finding voices that speak to radical independent cinema. That is why some may find Val (2021) to be a confusing addition to the catalog. What made the story of Val Kilmer worthy of being put alongside heavyweights like Amy (2015) that challenged enigmatic personalities? The answer may not seem obvious, but once delving into the actual film the answers couldn’t be more obvious. Much like how The Last Movie Star (2017) symbolized a late-career love letter to Burt Reynolds, Val sets out to empathize an actor whose career may be divisive, but nonetheless innovative.
Given that this is the story of Kilmer’s life, it’s hard to say where the story of Val actually should begin. For the sake of clarity, the starting point will be where co-directors Ting Poo and Leo Scott entered the picture. Both had established careers as editors. Among Poo’s achievements was editing the Oscar-winning short Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (2016). Meanwhile, Scott had edited work for many people including various projects for Harmony Korine. While filming a short called The Lotus Community Workshop, they came across boxes of footage that Kilmer had recorded himself totaling over 800 hours. They became intrigued by this man who had filmed seemingly most of his life, capturing intimate moments with a vulnerability that the public never saw.
Meanwhile, Kilmer was working on a one man show dedicated to his hero Mark Twain. With talks of moving the show to Broadway, Kilmer’s dream of being a stage actor were finally coming true. However, in 2015, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. The trachea was damaged in a surgery that made it difficult to speak. As he recovered, Kilmer spent lengthy periods thinking of what mattered in his life. It also meant that he was wanting to tell the story of his life. It was a chance to reflect on what mattered to him and give the world a better idea of who he truly was.
He recalls how filming The Island of Doctor Moreau (1996) lead many to think of him as a difficult person. The film was a notorious trainwreck on set and meant that it became the stuff of legend. Even with iconic roles like Top Gun (1986), Willow (1988), and Tombstone (1993) giving him legions of adoring fans, he couldn’t escape the perception of being unlikable. It’s maybe why he’s often seen in Val being friendly with audiences, such as during a Tombstone festival where he talks to attendees before watching the film.
It was also a chance to better understand who he wanted to be from a career standpoint. When he was younger, he filmed parodies of popular films with his friends that he would show to his friends. Everybody loved them and felt that he showed promise. As he aged, he got into stage theater, wishing to do Hamlet. However, because of his looks and charisma he quickly became sucked up into the world of cinema. All the while he filmed every moment of his life, capturing a lot of private moments that ranged from trivial to significant glimpses of what mattered to him. Kilmer claimed that he was one of the first to buy a camera and thus wanted to get the most out of it.
With that said, Poo and Scott were given directions on what could and couldn’t make it into the final film. His wife Joanne Whalley (who died in 1996) is barely in the film save for a few key moments. Kilmer claimed that it was because of personal agreements around her privacy. Meanwhile, his children Jack and Mercedes were more involved with the production. While Val is seen at various points giving contemporary on camera interviews, Jack was assigned the task of providing voice-over. He would read old letters that his father had written to help provide various contexts. Poo and Scott contemplated how to reveal Jack’s involvement given that it might be seen as distracting or gimmicky. They chose to present it towards the beginning where he’s seen saying, “I’m Val Kilmer.” The goal was to make the audience so entranced by the documentary that they forget it’s Jack and assume it’s Val – especially given the belief that he sounds just like his father.
More than anything, it was a chance to humanize Val Kilmer and make him something more than an enigmatic actor. For as much as it’s a survey of his career, it was also a chance to chronicle his later life. The film doesn’t shy away from his throat cancer and talks openly about his struggles with post-surgical life. Even then, it all led to him finding peace and appreciating everything he’s done in life. It serves as a moment to show how much he loved his family and friends as well as talk candidly about his triumphs and failures. Overall, the co-directors succeeded at making him likable.
The film made its premiere at Cannes in July 2021 where it received a Golden Eye nomination. By August, it had a limited run in theaters before premiering on Amazon Prime. Given the timing of everything, the film would have a second like when one of Kilmer’s most beloved films would receive a sequel a year later. With Top Gun: Maverick (2022) becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the following year, admiration for Kilmer was resurrected. He had a small cameo in the film and lead people to remember why they had found him endearing for all of those years.
The film ended up received a lot of acclaim along the way. According to critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 93% rating. Ema Sasic of Next Best Picture lead the acclaim when suggesting, “Getting poor reviews is likely hard for any actor, but Kilmer never let them define him. Nor did he ever let anything stand in his way of being his unequivocal self at every stage of his life, and today, we have the footage to see it all.” Eileen Jones of The Jacobin seconded the buzz when noting, “Sourced from decades of the Hollywood star's private home videos, the new documentary Val depicts the rise and fall of infamously 'difficult' actor Val Kilmer with charm and intimacy - even if it's a self-serving portrait.” The few who disagreed included Chad Byrnes of L.A. Weekly when claiming, “The new documentary on the inscrutable Val Kilmer is an exercise in distilled subjectivity. There isn't much in the way of breathing room or impartiality since Val exists within its own cocoon - the point of view of Val Kilmer.” Overall, it worked to capture a resurging love for an actor that many had taken for granted.
To some extent, the most successful thing about Val was that it could appeal to people who weren’t familiar with the actor’s work. The results were an endearing love letter to a man who shared his talents with the world and didn’t let bad news get him down. For as conventional as it sometimes may be, the results are heartwarming and far from predictable fare. It may not be the wildest thing that A24 has ever released, but it provided an interesting wrinkle to their documentary branch.
Also providing an interesting wrinkle was the return of a collaborator who hadn’t been seen in four years. Whereas most of A24’s films post-pandemic were acclaimed to some extent, this next one would become one of their most revered and discussed projects as well as help resurrect the career of an actor who had fallen into the fray. It was the rallying cry the studio needed after two years of uncertainty. It was a chance to continue making cinema weird and interesting.
Coming Up Next: The Green Knight (2021)
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