Marwencol
Marwencol Image
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Metascore
81 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 13 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 13 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Summary: On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was brutally attacked outside of a bar by five men. Revived by paramedics, Mark had suffered brain damage and physical injuries so severe even his own mother didn’t recognize him. After nine days in a coma and 40 days in the hospital, Mark was discharged withth little memory of his previous life. Unable to afford therapy, Mark decided to create his own. In his backyard, he built Marwencol, a 1/6th scale World War II-era town that he populated with dolls representing his friends, family and even his attackers. After a few years, Mark started documenting his miniature dramas with his camera. Through Mark’s lens, these were no longer dolls – they were living, breathing characters in an epic WWII story full of violence, jealousy, longing and revenge. And he (or rather his alter ego, Captain Hogancamp) was the hero.
    When Mark’s stunningly realistic photos are discovered by an art magazine, and a prestigious gallery comes calling, his homemade therapy suddenly becomes “art,” forcing Mark to make a choice between the safety of his fictional town and the real world beyond it. (The Cinema Guild)    … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    Dec 7, 2010
    100
    A strange and very beautiful documentary about the gray area between obsession and art.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    91
    This tender documentary considers the mysteries of both art and coping.
  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    Dec 9, 2010
    75
    At its heart, it's about the communities we forge - real and imagined - to save our own lives.
  4. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    60
    When it comes to capturing the man behind the phenomenon, however, the film never progresses beyond a superficial, weird-yet-wonderful portraiture.

See all 13 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. joomjim4
    10
    What if art become a form of therapy? This film portrays the strory of this bizarre man using an extraordinariness and miraculousness of art as a therapy to help him able to cope with the expensive lesson he had learnt from the cruelty and heartedness of people who share the same world as himself. It is new, strange and conducts the super unfimiliar life circumstance of this man with such an enormous maniacal expression. A strange yet very beautiful documentary.… Expand
  2. henryslavens
    9
    Reminds me of recent documentary Catfish, in that it captures an incredible story that could never have been foreseen at the beginning of the project; however, unlike Catfish, this documentary would have been very interesting with or without its several surprises. What does it look like for art to be therapy? This story gives an incredibly intriguing answer to that question.… Expand
  3. filmtrashreview
    7
    Marwencol is a touching story of a man that lost everything in a bar fight. He now creates the world that he never had with action figures and barbie dolls in great detail. It's an interesting story and any filmmaker would pick up on such a unique centerpiece for a film. However sometimes it seems that the film tells us more about what hasn't happened and less about what has. Still a great documentary.… Expand

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