Video cameras with built-in mics entered the commercial market around 1981, right around the time a young, talented actor with Native American roots named Val Kilmer decided to become an actor - first on stage, and then on film, and then back to stage. Armed with several such video cameras, Kilmer and members of his family started shooting - resulting in boxes upon boxes of videotapes and 8 MM tapes that Kilmer still has. Following a brush with throat cancer and surgery that left him with an electronic voice box as his "voice," the elder Kilmer, along with his son and daughter, set out to make this engrossing documentary, that celebrates the man, his survival, and his art and love of the arts (not just acting, but also music and painting).
As entertaining, funny, sad, poignant as this nearly 2-hour documentary is, you are left wanting more. Maybe some interviews with his co-stars. Late in his acting career, Kilmer earned a reputation for being "difficult," yet this documentary only touches on that. There are intriguing behind-the-scenes sequences shot during the making of the Island of Dr. Moreau, a movie that could have killed Kilmer's career, but thankfully did not (Ghost and the Darkness and The Saint were released after the notorious bomb that co-starred a nearly demented Marlon Brando).
Watching the film, I had forgotten how many movies Kilmer appeared in. Much attention is given to Top Gun, of course, as well as The Doors (the actor confesses that he believed he was born to play Jim Morrison - and certainly had the physical similarities as a starting point). And The Island of Dr. Moreau is given a lot of attention as well, particularly one of apparently many arguments the actor had with director John Frankenheimer (one of which was captured on video and can be seen in this documentary). Who was the bigger problem on that movie set? Kilmer, or Frankenheimer? The viewers are left to decide for themselves. Personally I would have enjoyed seeing more about his relationship with Cher early in his career, and more about his marriage with Joanne Whaley, who seems to be an intensely private person as evidenced in this documentary (and was probably mostly left out of the film for that reason). Also Thunderheart, a movie that at the time of release meant a lot to Kilmer, is barely mentioned.
But in the end we're left with a fairly optimistic documentary - despite his inability to talk, Kilmer claims he's pretty healthy overall and "sounds worse than he feels." But not being able to talk certainly hampers movie and stage careers - and Kilmer was set to bring his one-man show (written himself) as Mark Twain to Broadway when he was stricken with cancer. He throws himself into his new art studio and appears at Comic Con, gamely signing movie posters, Top Gun gear, and Batman toys for hours to support himself and his studio.
Perhaps a BluRay of this documentary could include interviews with actors he worked with - certainly he could not have "alienated" all of them (which the tabloids hinted about years ago). Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Kelly McGillis, Elisabeth Shue, Kurt Russell, Robert Downey Jr., Jim Carrey, Robert DeNiro, and directors like Michael Mann, Ron Howard, Oliver Stone...so many possibilities.
As entertaining, funny, sad, poignant as this nearly 2-hour documentary is, you are left wanting more. Maybe some interviews with his co-stars. Late in his acting career, Kilmer earned a reputation for being "difficult," yet this documentary only touches on that. There are intriguing behind-the-scenes sequences shot during the making of the Island of Dr. Moreau, a movie that could have killed Kilmer's career, but thankfully did not (Ghost and the Darkness and The Saint were released after the notorious bomb that co-starred a nearly demented Marlon Brando).
Watching the film, I had forgotten how many movies Kilmer appeared in. Much attention is given to Top Gun, of course, as well as The Doors (the actor confesses that he believed he was born to play Jim Morrison - and certainly had the physical similarities as a starting point). And The Island of Dr. Moreau is given a lot of attention as well, particularly one of apparently many arguments the actor had with director John Frankenheimer (one of which was captured on video and can be seen in this documentary). Who was the bigger problem on that movie set? Kilmer, or Frankenheimer? The viewers are left to decide for themselves. Personally I would have enjoyed seeing more about his relationship with Cher early in his career, and more about his marriage with Joanne Whaley, who seems to be an intensely private person as evidenced in this documentary (and was probably mostly left out of the film for that reason). Also Thunderheart, a movie that at the time of release meant a lot to Kilmer, is barely mentioned.
But in the end we're left with a fairly optimistic documentary - despite his inability to talk, Kilmer claims he's pretty healthy overall and "sounds worse than he feels." But not being able to talk certainly hampers movie and stage careers - and Kilmer was set to bring his one-man show (written himself) as Mark Twain to Broadway when he was stricken with cancer. He throws himself into his new art studio and appears at Comic Con, gamely signing movie posters, Top Gun gear, and Batman toys for hours to support himself and his studio.
Perhaps a BluRay of this documentary could include interviews with actors he worked with - certainly he could not have "alienated" all of them (which the tabloids hinted about years ago). Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Kelly McGillis, Elisabeth Shue, Kurt Russell, Robert Downey Jr., Jim Carrey, Robert DeNiro, and directors like Michael Mann, Ron Howard, Oliver Stone...so many possibilities.