JCVD (2009)
Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri
Written by Frederic Benudis
Starring Jean Claude Van Damme, Francois Damiens, Zinedine Soualem
Release Date November 7th, 2009
Published February 10th, 2010
Here's an idea. Take an international action hero movie star and drop him into a hostage situation. It could be the set up to one really dopey action comedy. Instead, this idea is turned on its ear and comes out a brilliant meta dark comedy in which Jean Claude Van Damme clears the deck of his entire career and unveils a ballsy, thoughtful, theatrical side that no one could have expected.
JCVD stars Van Damme as Van Damme. Having returned from Los Angeles after a losing custody battle over his daughter, Van Damme finds himself penniless in Brussels and needing quick cash. He has money waiting in a money transfer at the post office. Unfortunately for JCVD he walks in on a hostage situation.
Circumstances break so that Van Damme comes to be the suspect and not one of the victims. Meanwhile, we in the audience wait patiently for the Van Damme ass kicking that never comes. What we get instead is an introspective monologue of such tortured soul truthfulness it's impossible to tell where JCVD ends and the real Jean Claude begins.
JCVD is a stunner of ballsy self parody, of honest to god suspense and terrific indie filmmaking. The film comes from Belgian writer-director Mabrouk El Mechri who allegedly inherited the action comedy I mentioned earlier and rewrote the thing as a black comedy with some serious drama and suspense.
Not knowing much about Van Damme aside from tabloid stories about his divorces and drug habit it's difficult to say what about his real life he brought to JCVD but you can tell some of the stuff he talks about is pretty real and Van Damme feels every inch of it.
The naked desperation of Van Damme's performance married to the exceptional tone, strong plot logic turns JCVD from a meta inside joke into a rollicking good movie that happens to include some serious self-flagellation from a star who has seen better days in Hollywood.
I cannot praise Jean Claude Van Damme enough for this supremely brave and compelling performance. I'm sure having some real life motivation may have helped him plumb the depths a little easier but it still takes guts for an action hero to be so nakedly desperate and vulnerable.
The DVD cover quotes Time Magazine's review which said "He deserves not a black belt, but an Oscar". Hyperbole? Maybe. But that assessment is much more true than you imagine. Snicker all you want my hipster friends, Van Damme kicks ass in this movie. Give JCVD a chance and he will kick your ass too.
