The camera in Jeff Malmberg’s documentary “Marwencol” is always stationary, but it’s handheld and shaky, just like the flimsy action figures composing Mark Hogancamp’s fantasy world. They don’t move, but they have life and immense depth, and there’s still so much that seems unclear about them.
The film is named for the make believe town Hogancamp has created in his home and backyard in which he uses GI Joes and Barbie dolls to enact a sweeping World War II epic set in Belgium. He lives out alter egos for himself and his family and friends in Marwencol, and he photographs different moments in their lives in vivid detail.
Except Hogancamp is already living an alter ego. After being beaten senseless by a group of five teenagers leaving a bar, Hogancamp suffered severe brain damage and woke from a coma as a new person, with no recollection of his ex-wife, his hobbies, personality or how he suffered from alcoholism. His new way to keep his mind stimulated is through models in his parents’ hobby shop, but it evolved beyond something to pass the time into literally a second existence he takes as seriously as anything. Continue reading “Marwencol”