X
- 2021
- R
- Amazon Studios
- 1 h 49 m
- 2021
- R
- Amazon Studios
- 1 h 49 m
Summary For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone...
- 2021
- R
- Amazon Studios
- 1 h 49 m
- 2021
- R
- Amazon Studios
- 1 h 49 m
Val
73
7.8
Where to Watch
Summary For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone...
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 29 Critic Reviews
73
86% Positive
25 Reviews
25 Reviews
14% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 29 Critic Reviews
73
86% Positive
25 Reviews
25 Reviews
14% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The film has a whimsical surreality to it, just like the actor himself.
Val Kilmer joins the ranks of celebrities that fastidiously documented their lives via video, then shared that in documentary form. But Val feels more deeply personal and fascinating than most, catching its star in the wake of a terrible illness and exploring the "difficult" label he bore as an actor, one whose career choices didn't always serve him well.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
7.8
79% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
21% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
7.8
79% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
21% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Loved the film! Raw: pain and love... a simply beautiful depiction of the life behind the **** true life behind the camera. But In the end it is between us and God.
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Val is a portrait of an actor who poured his all into his work. Only now can he see what it amounts to, and find some vindication in the truth that it was worth defending all along.
The Val Kilmer we meet has been in the arena, realizes he has been lucky despite the hard knocks, and has now achieved what we hope is a lasting peace. His physical voice might be gone, but his inner voice still has much to say.
More a self-portrait than a profile, Val tells the story of a Hollywood career with a candor that stops short of revelation. The tone is personal but not quite intimate, producing in the viewer a warm, slightly wary feeling of companionship.
Val, while often tragic, is also a deeply spiritual film: a benediction of forgiveness for those that wronged him, and a mea culpa to those he has harmed (most especially, it seems, ex-wife Joanne Walley).
Scott and Poo have seized on one substantive idea in their portraiture of a singular personality reduced to a caricature of himself by posterity and duly reveal the sensitive artiste who always aspired to more than “Top Gun.” If only they did so with less straightforwardness and more authorial license.
The fact rhat the director and producers combed thru a WAREHOUSE of footage and we’re able to condense it down into a feature doc is a feat on its own. Especially in a time when platforms like Netflix are turning things like the 96-97 season of the Bulls into TEN HOURS of content. That’s in insanely less “content” than what Val compiled over 50+ years. And truly far more interesting that most of the other trumped up conflicts/drama that we get in documentary/doc series these days. Highly highly recommend this one.
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Outside the other celebrity cameos and behind the scenes footage, I was pretty disappointed. Pretty pretentious, which doesn't surprise me given Kilmer's ego, but even for him it's too much for me. I respect he went to Julliard and really put everything into his acting, but this comes off like he really enjoys the flavor of his own Kool-Aid. Even though it's a documentary, it is very contrived and scripted.
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Production Company
A24,
Boardwalk Pictures,
Cartel Film Production,
Cartel Films,
HelMel Studios,
IAC Films,
TwainMania
Release Date Jul 23, 2021
Duration 1 h 49 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline The life you live is the story you tell.
Website
https://a24films.com/films/val
Awards
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
• 3 Wins & 4 Nominations
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
