Marwencol (also known as Village of the Dolls in the UK[3][4]) is a 2010 American documentary film that explores the life and work of artist and photographer Mark Hogancamp. It is the debut feature of director Jeff Malmberg, produced through his production company Open Face. It was the inspiration for Welcome to Marwen, a 2018 drama directed by Robert Zemeckis.[5][6]
Synopsis
On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was attacked outside of a bar by five men who beat him nearly to death after he drunkenly told them he was a cross-dresser. After nine days in a coma and 40 days in the hospital, Hogancamp was discharged with brain damage that left him little memory of his previous life. Unable to afford therapy, he creates his own by building a 1/6-scale World War II–era Belgian town in his yard and populating it with dolls representing himself, his friends, and even his attackers. He calls that town Marwencol, blending the names Mark, Wendy, and Colleen.[7]
Hogancamp was initially discovered by photographer David Naugle, who documented and shared his story with Esopus magazine.[8]
Production
The film was shot in New York State between 2006 and 2010, using a combination of DVCAM video and Super-8 film formats.[9]
Reception
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Inspiring and fascinating, Marwencol depicts its subject with heartfelt tenderness, raising poignant questions about art and personal tragedy along the way."[10] The site awarded the film its Golden Tomato Award for the best-reviewed documentary of the year.[11] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[12]
The film was included in Entertainment Weekly's July 6, 2012, article "50 Best Movies You've Never Seen".[19] In the 2012 Slate article and online poll, "The Golden Age of Documentaries: What's the Best Doc of the Last 5 Years?", Marwencol was ranked No. 1 in the poll.[20]
In the 2012 PBS/POV online poll, "The 100 Greatest Documentaries of All Time", Marwencol was ranked No. 91 in the poll.[21]
In the April 22, 2013, New York article, "How Documentary Became the Most Exciting Kind of Filmmaking", Marwencol was among the films in the accompanying list, "The 20 Essential Documentaries of the Century".[22]
In September 2016, Cinema Eye Honors named Marwencol as one of the 20 top nonfiction films of the past decade, based on a poll of 110 key figures in the documentary community.[23]
In October 2019 Paste Magazine included Marwencol in their article, "The 30 Best Documentaries of the 2010s". The film was listed as #23.[24]
Synecdoche, New York, a 2008 drama film about a theater director who creates a tremendously elaborate stage set, in an attempt to control a version of his own reality
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-10-16. Retrieved 2010-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"FILMPREISE BEI DER VIENNALE 2010" Viennale.at (in German)
