JCVD

Mabrouk El Mechri
2008

"The Muscles From Brussels" participates in this self-reflexive quasi-comeback. Director El Mechri puts a playful spin on the notion of image and celebrity as the over-the-hill action-star essentially plays himself, winding up in a hostage situation straight from one of his films. For all the comic jabs at Van Damme's ego and his general adoration as a Belgian national treasure, the picture maintains a deep-seated serious streak. Van Damme is old and tired, lacking the money to pay his lawyer in an ongoing custody battle with one of his ex-wives. Most interesting is a lengthy monologue in which he directly addresses the camera and speaks of his real-life drug problems, marital issues, and waning celebrity. Despite Van Damme's excellently raw performance and it's clever intellectual merits "JCVD" is slightly marred by lousy cinematography. I'm sure El Mechri would argue that the dark, overly color-treated visuals mirror the cheap straight-to-VHS actioners Jean-Claude is known for, but the muddy greens and browns complemented by high contrast lighting doesn't do the picture any favors.