JCVD

Newsflash: Jean-Claude Van Damme can act. Wait, what’s that? Yes, you read it right. The muscles from Brussels is an actor. Who’d have guessed?

Make no mistake, JCVD is not your run-of-the-mill Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie. It’s a smart satire on stardom and loneliness, and celebrity. Van Damme plays a version of himself here, in a neat bit of self-deprecating meta-fiction. He’s back in his home town, and goes into the local post office to get some money so he can pay his attorney (who is fighting on his behalf for custody of his daughter). However, he wanders into an ongoing robbery, and due to a misunderstanding, the police believe he is the robber.

What plays out next is edge-of-your seat exciting, both in terms of actual tension from the interactions with the robbers, but also because Jean-Claude Van Damme opens up his heart and pours out all kinds of truths about his life and his successes and his failures. It’s a wonderful thing to behold, yet somehow bizarre to witness.

As he is inside the post office, dealing with the real robbers (one of whom is a great fan of his and wants him to demonstrate the trick of kicking a cigarette out of the mouth of a hostage) and trying to handle the situation, legions of his fans line the street outside, cheering him on. Through flashbacks, we learn about his current situation with the custody battle, his struggle to get offered new movies, and his life as a man who is famous yet washed-up.

There are a few notable scenes here which blew me away and which alone are worth the price of admission. One, in which Jean-Claude spews a monologue at the camera, is simply breathtaking. He reveals his innermost thoughts on the cost of fame, the perception of the public, the toll this has taken on his personal life. It’s one of the single best scenes I’ve seen all year.

In another showy piece, which happens to be the very opening of the movie, we follow Van Damme on the set of his latest action movie. In a brilliant, long, single take, we see him kill dozens of bad guys, kicking and shooting all over the place. When the long take is almost complete, a piece of the set falls down and he’s going to have to do the whole thing again. Exasperatedly he tells the arrogant young director, “It’s very difficult for me to do everything in one shot. I’m 47 years old.”

What I loved about this movie, apart from the tension and the revelation that is Van Damme, was the camera work. The director often focuses on Van Damme’s face, lined by time and worn by experience. In his face, we can see what he has been through. And Van Damme brings a wonderfully rich character to life, perhaps only possible by essentially being himself. He is honest, funny, emotional and absolutely exhausted.

Yes, it is not an exaggeration. Jean-Claude Van Damme can act. And if there’s any justice in the world, this movie will open up new doors for him. JCVD shows us what lurks under the surface of a man we all assumed we had pegged, and I urge you to see it if you get a chance. It was quite a revelation.