Evening clouds on the horizon – Photo: L. Weikel

Recommendation

Now that the Olympics are over, Karl and I were forced to find something new to distract and entertain us. And we couldn’t even rely on my discovery last night about Ann Axtell Morris’s fascinating life, since we have to wait another handful of months, at least, before Canyon del Muerto is released. Lucky for me, just the other day I read a friend’s recommendation on FB about a movie I hadn’t even known about.

If you’re like me and harbored a little bit of a crush on Val Kilmer in your 30s (yeah, loved Tombstone – it was a major favorite movie in our household), you need to see the astonishingly powerful documentary, Val. It recently premiered at Cannes and is airing now on Amazon Prime.

This production is essentially a documentary that Kilmer created and narrated as he’s been living his life, although now the narration is given an assist by his son Jack.

I hesitate to reveal much of anything about the film. Not only hadn’t I looked it up ahead of time, I hadn’t even watched the trailer. So I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Val Kilmer and my friends raved about the production. And therefore that’s how I’m going to leave it with you, too.

Familiarity

There’s something familiar to me about Kilmer that touched my heart in this doc, and I wonder if his ‘truth,’ if you will, is what I’ve always sensed no matter what role I’ve seen him portray. Some of his experiences growing up were eerily reminiscent of our own family. (Not mine as a child; rather, ours – Karl’s and mine – raising our sons.) There’s a lot in this film that hit home.

I have to say, it makes me want to binge-watch some of his oldies but goodies. And Amazon just so happens to be featuring many of them.

Give it a look. It’s unique and poignant. I personally feel it should win some major awards. It is extremely well made, powerful, and I have a feeling it’s going to haunt me for a while.

(T-98)