Van Damme unloads such angst playing himself, you wonder where it came from. I guess it must be scarring on the inside to star in so many duds. JCVD highlights his now deflated face, drained, and stung by every humiliation. He delivers a monologue at the end looking and speaking directly to the audience. The real Van Damme is vulnerable and battling his own ego. Finally aware of his faults, he still blames us for judging him too harshly. Hey, Jean-Claude, you needn’t worry about being mistaken for Steven Seagal, or as I like to call him, Mr. Whispering Ponytail Guy.
El Mechri uses an unconventional style to distance the film from Van Damme’s older pictures. JCVD is the movie to use for an essay on Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini. It’s littered with movie references and existentialist dialogue. El Mechri presents the movie as a documentary (he casts Van Damme’s real parents) but chops up the scene order. Van Damme’s speech also breaks cinematic rules. While he’s not totally careless, he doesn’t connect his cleverness enough with the deeper ideas in the plot. Rather than simply make a self-aware film, how about making the movie reflect a man trying to take his life back from the critics and focus groups?
Writing Van Damme into a French New Wave style film takes some genius. Like the hero, it’s not perfect. JCVD lobs the usual criticisms against Hollywood. The bank robbery is kind of tense, but it happens only to make Van Damme miserable. Congratulations Van Damme you’re the Belgian Bruce Willis. Next film, you can just be a dramatic actor rather than trying so hard to look like one.
Grade: B-
Note: JCVD is in French with English subtitles. You can read more at the film's official website.
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