Movie promotion featurettes are nothing new, but in recent decades, tens of thousands of BTS (behind the scenes) shorts have become standard extras on DVD releases accompanying movies. They often trivialize or ludicrously magnify the efforts of cult figures (notably in genres like horror and exploitation movies).
This French documentary about the career of movie star Keanu Reeves is a pretentious example of this, building up Reeves as some sort of legendary giant of film history, in a fun way at first but laughably ridiculous as the hour draws to a close with his internet popularity: going from hero worship to sublime adoration.
Reeves emerges as an interesting if self-contained and generally self-effacing person thrust into celebrity and fame, more by happenstance than design. Ultimately, his "Point Break" director Kathryn Bigelow and a couple of key crew people as stunt coordinator and martial arts trainer from "Point Break" and "The Matrix" seem to be the key to his eventual success and longevity in a highly fickle entertainment industry. Appraisal of his acting ability, whether positive or negative, is superficial.
At times I was reminded of Brando or Dylan or De Niro as enigmatic or casually pretentious icons who are protective of their privacy. As with tragic figures like Dean and Monroe, they offer fertile ground for myth-making. The hype concerning Reeves included by director Julien Dupuy in this gee-whiz "documentary" is silly, but par for the course. Certainly other recent stars, particularly Kevin Costner due to his similarly meteoric (after the usual false-start years) and long-lasting career (subject to pretentious overreach as in his current "Heaven's Gate"-like failure with the "Horizon" movies) could get a similar phony-baloney treatment. But I hope not.
