JCVD (2008)

September 20, 2009

DVD, Seattle, WA

*** / ****

By Scott Muoio

Flailing with “foreign film” tricks, self-referential soliloquies and barbs, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as himself JCVD is a strangely engrossing film. Part The Wrestler, part artsy action flick, JCVD takes its star, “The Muscles from Brussels,” Jean-Claude Van Damme and sends him down the path less traveled. For Van Damme that path entails every manner of cutting commentary on the actor as vapid action star famous mostly for being ridiculous. Where that path eventually leads, to a surreal moment where Jean-Claude literally ascends above the film set and delivers a six minute monologue on who he thinks he is in the eyes of the world and who he is struggling to be, is mind bogglingly obtuse, unequivocally absurd, and surprisingly moving all at the same time.

JCVD’s skeletal plot, something about a bank heist where Van Damme is mistaken as the perpetrator rather than a hostage, and the ensuing stand-off between the real criminals and the Belgium police is mere frame work and the film’s biggest liability. The bland hostage situation dukes it out for the viewer’s attention with odd green and gold camera overlays, awkwardly paced and disjointed edits, and numerous tracking shots. It is through these clumsy movements, and in particular when the film leaps back and forth in time espousing on Van Damme’s legal trouble to gain custody of his daughter, his struggle to be judged outside of his fame, and his inability to secure work in a career defined by a turnstile of disposable vigor that the movie is cinematic gold.

The great dichotomy in JCVD is that it has lots of wonderful technique, a boatload of clever ideas, and a lead in Jean-Claude Van Damme that is perfect for thoughtful deprecation, and yet its execution is muddled by an un-sureness of overall purpose. While it is clear the film wants to deconstruct Van Damme’s reputation over the past 20 plus years, its non-stop barrage of tricks and shaky fluctuations in tone don’t make it entirely apparent if re-invention is also part of the plan. That uncertainty is most apparent in its two key scenes.

The movie begins with a long, one shot take of Van Damme kicking, punching, shooting, and tumbling his way through a three-minute movie within a movie fight scene, setting the tone of parody as the order of the day. But later, when Van Damme leaps into his gloriously meandering stream of conscience confessional and the film doesn’t immediately follow it with a similar explosion of Van Damme cliché it is a letdown. Certainly the hint of a Van Damme moment a bit down the road brings a little joy, but not having definitive bookends to bring the redemption full circle disappoints as it illustrates the film’s inconsistencies. It also provides the best summation of why JCVD’s sum doesn’t quite equal its parts: director Mabrouk El Mechri is satisfied with sacrificing unity and cohesion for momentary genius and an adherence to too many sources of inspiration. That may work for him but for an audience it lessens the impact of Mabrouk’s bold and fascinating decision to put Van Damme under the microscope.

Overall, JCVD is an ambitious, entertaining, and thoughtful flick but without proper grounding and cohesion is it is simply good rather than great. And that is a shame since Van Damme has evidently given so much and proves, without a doubt, that he is indeed more than the one-dimensional muscle head his fans and detractors have always assumed.

In French with English subtitles

Director: Mabrouk El Mechri

Producer: Sidonie Dumas, Fiszman Marc, Patrick Quinet, Jani Thilitges, Arlette Zylberberg

Writer: Frederic Benudis, Mabrouk El Mechri, Christophe Turpin

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Francois Damiens, Zinedine Soualem

Original Music: Gast Waltzing

Cinematographer: Pierre-Yves Bastard

Editor: Kako Kelber