Benvenuti a Marwen

The most original film I've seen in years. On top of that, basing this on a true story, they didn't feel the need to hollywoodise the lead character, instead keeping him intact with all his quirks, insecurities & awkwardness. The tea scene with Carrell & Leslie Mann is probably the most awkward thing I've seen since the English office series & it works so well. The doll sequences are spectacular, if a little too dominant of the film in the first half, but it's a minor quibble for what is very original, heart breaking yet comedic viewing. Well worth the price of admission.

After drunkenly confessing a love of wearing stiletto heels, comic book artist Mark Hogancamp is gay-bashed (ironically, he is not gay). The attack leaves him with what I (not a medical person) assume is brain damage, of which one effect is the loss of his drawing ability. Denied that, instead he channels his artistic leanings into constructing in his garden a World War Two Belgian village, populated with an Action Man-like doll as his own alter-ego, war hero "Cap'n Hogie" (who wears stilettos to "feel the essence of Dame"), and Sindy- or Barbie-like dolls representing various women in his life (his care assistant, a friendly woman in a hobby shop, a pornographic actress...) Using these dolls - often in scenes in which Hogie, captured by Nazis (representing Mark's assailants), is rescued by the women - Mark works through his personal demons and his photographs of the scenes give him a second artistic career. But his emotional equilibrium is threatened both by the arrival of kindly neighbour Nicol (who, somewhat unbelievably, does not find it remotely creepy when Mark immediately gives her her own doll equivalent in Marwen) and also by Deva the mysterious evil Belgian witch doll...

This is based on a true story, which may explain why we are spared the usual melodrama in which Mark's awful ordeal would usually be portrayed. Instead, he is presented as someone whose life has been severely affected by his assault, but who, as anyone would, is trying to cope and put his life back together: a couple of shouty episodes aside, he is a subdued, but not totally withdrawn, character. This, however, seems to result in a patchy performance from lead Steve Carell (in what I cynically imagine is the kind of role actors accept in the hope it will bag them an Oscar): whereas he is suitably gung-ho when voicing Hogie, as Mark I found his performance curiously detached. Of the other performances, the stand-out is Gwendoline Christie, but not in a good way: her Russian care assistant is so over-the-top it is as if she has just wandered in from a 'Carry on' film - it says a lot about her performance that she is more realistic when portraying a plastic doll.

Speaking of plastic dolls, the animated/CGI sequences are nicely done, both technically and also in injecting a little bit of humour into the film, while never swamping its central message of a man being forced to adapt to a change of circumstances that is not his fault. Ultimately, however, the quieter, real-life sequences - human interest drama I would usually appreciate - suffer in contrast to the colourful animated bits and I left the cinema undecided as to whether I had actually enjoyed the film or not.

Mark was a high school classmate of mine and good friend. He had so much raw talent as an artist and made everyone laugh. The hate that wrecked his life was transformed into art like we have never seen.

...somebody dares to think outside the box in this day and age. Thank you Robert Zemeckis for daring to push the envelope and revealing more of the ongoings in the human mind than most documentaries are able.

This is an extraordinarily grown up film - skilfully portraying the workings of the inner mind. Trusting the audience to stay in touch with their younger self, to receive the message, is a mind twistingingly daring approach to great film making.

Arguably skipping the BOATS (Based On A True Story) aspect and tweaking the script into pure fiction would have been beneficial to the broader audience. This for two reasons; the concept is strong enough to stand alone and all viewers could watch without prejudice. As it stands some viewers will carry a pre-conception as To how the story "should" be told.

However, the main reason for falling short of giving Welcome to Marwen a 10/10 is insecurity from this reviewer. The format is so fresh that there are few points of reference - this rating may well improve over time.

It IS a must see, also an invitation to grow up - and get back in contact with the; playful and curious approach to learning so many of us have forgotten.

Before I saw WELCOME TO MARWEN, I saw a tweet calling it "Zemeckis' VERTIGO." Although I scoffed at the idea, after viewing it, I realized that it held some merit, with one of the female characters, played by Merritt Wever, eerily inhabiting a very similar role to that of Barbara Bel Geddes. There are some interesting ideas on display throughout the film that mirror themes found in VERTIGO, as both focus on men attempting to move past a traumatic experience. However, the men in both films elect to move past this trauma by shaping the females around them in their own desired image. It worked in VERTIGO, but 60 years removed from that film, such a premise seems tone-deaf to say the least. Furthermore, Zemeckis' latest film will no doubt serve as further evidence for the group of critics that peg him as a filmmaker primarily interested in the latest special effects rather than one primarily interested in telling a story. Zemeckis seems like an odd choice to helm this film, as he never opts for a subtle, tender approach to telling the story of Steve Carrell's Mark Hogancamp, who was assaulted by a group of white supremacists. Instead, Zemeckis opts to place the film's visual effects at the forefront, and electing to focus on shootouts and explosions rather than a more nuanced exploration of Hogancamp's fragile psychological state. That the film also revels in some more obvious instances of male "gaziness" when it shows some of the animated female doll figures topless is worthy of an eye-roll, to say the least.

That being said, I truly do think that Steve Carrell delivers a better performance here than most will give him credit for. When the script, written by Zemeckis and Caroline Thompson, isn't actively attempting to display the film's special effects (or having Carrell deliver some truly awful lines about the "essence of a woman"), Carrell does at least attempt to understand the struggles that his character's real-life counterpart underwent after the assault. The majority of the cast (even Leslie Mann, whose character unfortunately follows the manic pixie dream girl stereotype) also delivers some solid work, especially the aforementioned Wever. That being said, watching WELCOME TO MARWEN left me thinking that this was a story that didn't necessarily need to be made into a film, especially when a critically-acclaimed documentary about Hogancamp himself named MARWENCOL already exists.