Suspend disbelief to appreciate Steve Carell as a plastic doll or flesh and blood in this sad but true grim fairy tale. There are some nice twists in this film and Carell proves, again, that he can play just about anything. He has 3 films out now playing vastly different roles. (Vice, Beautiful Boy)
This film is disturbing, but somewhat fascinating the way it is presented. Director Robert Zemeckis was inspired by the 2010 documentary by Jeff Malmberg about Mark Hogancamp, an artist and ex-serviceman who was beaten within an inch of his life by 5 guys in a bar for admitting he liked wearing women’s high heels.
Carell told us at the Q&A after a screening that he pursued the role(s) after seeing the documentary. Zemekis uses a motion capture animation with live action to depict the life Hogancamp created for himself between fantasy and reality to deal with his pain. Zemeckis made a point of saying that the cast acted out every move. Their likenesses are still doll-like but have a very polished style.
It’s confusing when you first see Carell as an animated doll in action as a fighter pilot crashing and having to fight the nasty Nazis making fun of him. Zemeckis shows through the dolls in the film what’s really going on from inside Mark’s head. He does it with slow reveals about his past “so the audience can be conditioned to Steve playing the two characters.” He also admitted using references to fairy tales in the fantasy scenes from Sleeping Beauty, The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella and even his own Back to the Future movies.
You go in and out of reality with the former artist who now builds models and shoots stories he makes up with a camera. Besides losing all memory of the life he had, Mark suffered PTSD, overwhelming anxiety, night and day in addition to physical problems. His way of coping was to build a model city he called Marwen and populate it dolls emulating the people he knew who help take care of him and shooting scenes he created instead of drawing them as he used to be able to do.
Zemeckis put together a great cast of strong “dames” as Captain Hogy called them as his crew. Janelle Monáe plays Julie, his one-legged, very cool, physical therapist. Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) is his very funny Russian visiting nurse, Anna. Would have liked to see more of her in the film. Carlala (Elza González) works with him at the bar where he was beaten.
Roberta (Merritt Wever) is remarkable the sensitive gal at the local hobby shop who is so patient looking out for Mark’s needs. She helps supply him with the dolls he dresses up and photographs in the model German town of Marwen he has created. That’s where the battles take place. They are his comrades/protectors in the fantasy he creates to beat the Nazis depicted as the villains who beat him up. In this “Year of the Woman,” Hogy’s dolls present a good message. They are shown to be strong, protective and heroic.
Carell shows great range of emotion as Mark deals with the battles in his own head. The littlest change throws him off. You never know when he’s going to snap. He shows that even more when new neighbor, Nicol, (Leslie Mann, Blockers) moves in across the street and befriends him. This is the perfect role for Mann. She is so good at playing perky, sweet, yet sensitive and sympathetic. Nicol even understands and appreciates his collection of women’s heels. Of course, Mark misreads her intentions.
There is a lot of detail that may not make sense until you see Mark shooting one of his episodes. Zemekis adds a lot of battle scenes including chases, gunfire, explosions, and more where he or the dolls come close to death. Comedy comes with a few funny punch lines at the end of battles, and songs the director punctuates scenes with to set the tone of Mark’s emotions.“Yummy, yummy, yummy, I Got Love in my Tummy,” “Over,” by Tammy Wynette, “Help Me, I think I’m Falling.”
Deja Thoris (Diane Kruger) is one of the dolls who drives Mark crazy. She’s a manipulative hissing, flying witch who goes nuts when the other dolls gain favor. Zemeckis admitted throwing in some references to fairy tales, like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in Mark’s stories with the dolls. He even has Deja telling Mark to create a flying time machine which looks and flies like a primitive knock off from Zemeckis’ DeLorean in Back to the Future.
Zemeckis builds to the most dramatic scene where Mark is in court facing the men who beat him. It’s almost unbearable to watch. You feel his pain. That scene even got to Carell who is now friends with the real Mark.
There’s a good message wrapped around this imaginative, creative, well-structured fairy tale that deals with hate crimes against gays, and women. Hogy and his dames may be plastic, but this movie does show some heart.
Universal 116 Minutes PG-13
