JCVD

I’m a little late on this one, seeing Jean Claude Van Damme in this little European movie in which he plays himself, stressed over a lack of money and having recently lost custody of his daughter. The plot is simple enough—JCVD (I’ll use the titular abbreviation hereafter, though it’s worth noting that because of this film I learned that his real name is actually Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg) goes into a post office/bank to cash a check because he needs cash and happens upon some men holding people hostage in the place.

But, this isn’t an action film, its “real life.” He doesn’t fight them off and save everyone but instead gets drawn into the situation, being their go between with the police (who, along with JCVD fans outside, think HE is the one holding people hostage inside) and occasionally sitting around with them discussing films and life. It’s an odd little film in a way, using a slightly disjointed continuity to frame the events and climaxing (sort of) with a scene that exists quite literally outside (or rather above) the film, with the fictional JCVD moving out of the action on screen to talk about JCVD’s real life, his life coming to America, his trouble with drugs, etc.

A six minute monologue that was supposedly ad libbed—it comes across, at first, as a little pretentious, as this film hasn’t quite earned this departure from “reality.” But, JCVD shows he’s a good actor—and here is where I’m late, as critics were noting this when the film came out a couple years back (it is also worth noting that he has demonstrated bits of great acting here and there in between the action scenes, but this film showcases it)—and he earns this break from the reality of the film with a monologue that in a matter of minutes is funny, informative, angry, and even a little heartbreaking (so good a mix, that I’ve already done a cut of the English translation to maybe interpret it in a speech competition).

This is the kind of role, at least in this scene, that many an actor would kill for, but of course, only one actor could play it. This is a former action star presenting himself in a fairly raw form, humanizing a guy who’s in the past been a bit idealized. It’s an awesome film in the end, though it starts small and ends perhaps a little abruptly, but its center, Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg and, in particular, the key scene, raise a fairly simple story above what it should be, just as literally, the titular actor is raised above the set for the emotional heart of the piece.