Welcome to Marwen

Welcome to Marwen

Starring Steve Carell, Leslie Mann, Merritt Wever, Janelle Monae

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

The Story:
Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) was an acclaimed artist who favored wearing high-heeled shoes, and one night a gang of men beat him up because of that, leaving him for dead.  The beating was so savage that he forgot everything in his life that happened before, and became a sort of recluse, hiding away in his mobile home and instead creating his own world he calls Marwen.

Set in a Belgium town during World War II, the town of Marwen serves as a safe haven for Mark, where he has a doll made in his likeness who's a brave commander.  The town is populated by women that Mark knows in real life - Roberta (Merritt Weaver), Julie (Janelle Monae), Carlala (Eiza Gonzalez), Suzette (Leslie Zemeckis), and Anna (Gwendoline Christie).  There also exists in the land of Marwen a witch named Deja (Diane Kruger), who seems to desire Mark but also is the cause of the Nazis continually invading his town.

As the day draws near to the sentencing of the men who beat him up, Mark struggles with coming face-to-face with them again, as well as struggling with his own inner demons.  When Nicol (Leslie Mann) moves in next door, he begins feeling for her in a way that he's never felt for anyone else before, and creates her own doll to exist in Marwen.  As the real life and fantasy life intertwine, Mark faces his demons and learns that with the help of his friends, he really can achieve anything.

The Synopsis:
When I first saw the trailer for the film, I must admit that I had high hopes and expectations.  I knew this wasn't going to be a traditional comedy that Steve Carell has been typecast to appear in (although his outstanding work in dramas such as "Foxcatcher" and "Beautiful Boy" have already helped establish him as more than just a comedic face), and I was well aware that it would be a moving, poignant, and probably tear-jerking film directed by Robert Zemeckis, who's best known for directing classics like "Forrest Gump."  A story about a man beaten to near death who finds solace in his dolls and photography and the friends around him made it look like it'd be the feel-good movie of the year.

Unfortunately, the final product was far from what I would've considered great - or even good, for that matter.  While the visuals were amazing, the story itself seemed to be lacking, combined with strange editing and lackluster performances made for a rare miss for all involved.  During the film I was expecting that one particular moment that would define the film for me, a time that I would remember more than any other, but there wasn't one.  Mark was a sympathetic character, but also a very odd one that took away from the sentimentality I felt like I should've felt.  His story is tragic, but he's so off-putting that it didn't register with me in a deeply profound way, and it's obviously my ignorance talking here because I've never experienced what he did, so his manners could've been a bi-product of his situation, but the film never really explores that - or anything, essentially.

Steve Carell gives a strange performance as Mark, the character who's supposed to be at the heart of the story but seems so thinly written you could've mistaken him for a wooden doll.  We don't really seem to understand his thought processes, even through the stories he tells from the dolls, and he exhibits such strange behaviors - such as falling in love with his new neighbor (played by Leslie Mann, who consistently seems as confused as we are) almost immediately, or freaking out at the littlest things - that probably are due to the trauma he received, but we never really find that out.  He could've been like this before, but his story is never really told, so given what we got, we have to go off of that.

The women in the film are shown as powerful as dolls, and sources of support for Mark in real life, for the most part (the doll named Suzette was inspired by Mark's favorite actress, who is actually a porn star), and its these women who help Mark through the hard times.  In his world of Marwen, he's consistently hunted by evil Nazis (in groups of five, much like the five men who attacked him in real life), and the women continually come to his rescue.  These women mirror his real life relationships, except for one woman in Marwen named Deja, who's the witch in the town and who doesn't allow Mark to be happy because she wants him all to herself.  This seems to be the only doll not inspired by someone Mark knows, but her symbolic presence is rather obvious from the get-go.

Essentially, this film is about a man's struggles with his inner demons and coming to terms with the traumatic event that's changed his life forever, but that entire story is sidelined to tell the story of Marwen itself, which would've been all well and good if that was the film's only purpose, but it didn't seem to be the case.  While many people wanted less of Marwen and more the real story, I wanted the opposite - because the real story seemed so thinly written it could've been a short film compared to the doll's story.

The Summary:
Despite a strong pedigree in front and behind the camera, "Welcome to Marwen" was muddied down by a lackluster script, odd editing choices and a poorly written lead whose intentions we never really discover.

The Score: C-