(Mabrouk El Mechri, Belgium 2008, 96 min., French with subtitles)

JCVD stands for Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the muscles from Brussels gives one of the most fascinating and compelling performances of the year (no folks, we’re not kidding) in a meta-exploration of the action star’s private and public personas. Playing himself, a washed-up action star with financial problems stemming from an ugly divorce, Van Damme returns to his Belgian hometown, only to inadvertently find himself at the center of a robbery/hostage situation! Forced to reconcile his heroic big-screen image with his defeated, true self, our anti-hero must find a way to extricate himself from his predicament. The undoubted highlight is JCVD’s confessional, direct-to-camera monologue that may move you in surprising ways.