Welcome to Marwen (Review)

Welcome to Marwen Proves to Be on the of Most Unique Movies of the Year.

Welcome to Marwen is an emotionally draining film, but I mean that in the best possible way. On the surface, it’s about a man who has experienced life-changing trauma that he will never fully recover from. However, it’s much more about the support network he has that helps him heal from the horrible ordeal he underwent. As someone who suffers from anxiety on a daily basis, I found Welcome to Marwen to be a movie that spoke to me on a number of levels and one that I couldn’t help finding forming a deep connection to.

The premise to Welcome to Marwen is more than a little odd. It tells the tale of Mark Hogancamp, a man brutalized in a hate crime by a bunch of neo-nazis (played by Steve Carrell). Because of the terrible beating he experienced, his life as an illustrator is over. In order to cope with his PTSD he creates an art installation based on a fictional town based in World War II Belgium with characters inspired by his real-life support network. It’s filled with strong women who aren’t afraid to give Nazis the beatings they deserve. Reality starts to blur for Mark though as the court date approaches for his attackers to receive their sentencing and his anxiety is sent into overdrive. Fortunately, he has a number of people in his life that genuinely care for him and accept him warts and all.   

I’ll admit that Mark Hogancamp is a bit of an odd duck, but damn if he isn’t an interesting one. Hogencamp uses his art installation of Marwen to process everything that has happened to him by creating an alternate version of himself free from the crippling shame he feels for 1) having a penchant for wearing women’s shoes and 2) “playing” with the various dolls he uses in it. The miniature version of him is loved and respected by the women of Marwen (Eiza González, Leslie Zemeckis, Merritt Wever, Gwendoline Christie, Janelle Monáe, and Leslie Mann) something that Hogancamp so desperately needs and he uses the dolls of the town to act out his own personal desires in order to cope with reality which starts to waver the more stress he experiences. It’s so easy to sympathize with him and his eccentricities as the depths to his personal story are revealed. He’s a broken man who struggles every single day and he’s far from perfect. After all, there are more than a few scenes that border on cringe-worthy, but then again that’s the realm that Carrell thrives in.

Director Robert Zemeckis is known for creating truly visionary films that are beloved by millions. Welcome to Marwen is certainly visionary, but I’m not sure this is a film that will be “beloved.” Zemeckis blends the world of Marwen with the real by bringing the dolls to life in order to portray the adventures that Hogancamp captures so beautifully on camera. He cuts back and forth between the animated figures and the real sporadically throughout Welcome to Marwen as Hogancamp encounters new elements in his life. However, the cuts are a bit awkward at times and the story structure suffers as the two tales slowly diverge, especially as the one in Marwen becomes campier and campier. While the world of Marwen has beautiful CGI (maybe even some of the best I’ve seen all year) it almost undermines the tale of Hogancamp’s recovery from his trauma. I almost wish they had chosen to focus on the fictional world or the real one more as the film goes one because neither is truly given the justice it deserves by the end.

Welcome to Marwen is a movie that’s filled with wonderful themes and elements, many of which come so very close to working. Mark is a character that wears women’s shoes in order to feel more connected to them or rather their essence. Because of that, the film prides itself on its portrayal of strong female characters throughout it. Mark’s alter-ego relies on the women of Marwen to save him just as much as he depends on their understand and acceptance in the real world to keep him going. As he says so frequently, “I love dolls.” A cute turn of phrase, but one that also shows that this admiration might only be skin deep for the most part. The women of Marwen are manipulations of his desires, he uses them in order to help himself cope and that means putting his character in a position of power over them as their commanding officer. This thought is a perfect metaphor for Welcome to Marwen in general because it’s a movie filled with good intentions, but none of them are truly as altruistic as they seem.    

As I said, there are a number of elements of Welcome to Marwen that work (especially Steve Carrell’s performance in it, which is phenomenal). There are even more elements that almost work. However, it can’t decide exactly what kind of movie it wants to be. A surreal look at a man’s psyche as he recovers from trauma? An examination of the importance of a strong support group when it comes to mental health? A whimsical tale of a creative artist and his incredibly unique art installation? There are so many moving pieces in Welcome to Marwen that depend on each other once one break down the whole thing does. Still, I enjoyed Welcome to Marwen for the most part. It’s not the movie I was hoping it to be. The themes did speak to me, but, more often than not they tended to mumble.