SXSW 2010: Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL

Update: MARWENCOL won the Documentary Competition Jury Prize at the SXSW Awards ceremony Tuesday night.  Following the event, juror and LA Weekly Film Editor Karina Longworth wrote about the choice:

"MARWENCOL stood out from the competition pack for a number of reasons, but as I noted at the ceremony, for me the most refreshing thing about it was that it seems to fuse several different strands of contemporary non-fiction filmmaking that rarely seem to coexist within the same film. It's a film about social issues (mental disability, alcoholism, sexual identity) that presents itself in an extraordinarily personal way, with Hogencamp's story unfolding so organically that it seems as though the subject is talking directly to the viewer, slowly revealing more of himself as one would with a strander-turned confidante, as they slowly earn our trust. It's both "relevant" and "personal" -- two buzz words that are often bandied about, but Marwencol earns them. I was so glad my fellow jurors agreed that this was the finest film in competition. Had they not, I would have fought them over it."

Previously: Premiering in Austin in the Documentary Competition (and just announced for San Francisco's doc comp line-up) is director Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL, already one of the most talked about nonfiction features in this year's SXSW line-up.  The film profiles Mark Hogancamp, a former, self-described "angry drunk" who, following a brutal bar beating that sends him into a coma, builds an intricate, WWII-era, fictional world filled with GI Joe dolls and constructed villages.

Hammer to Nail's Michael Ryan is effusive, calling it "the film to beat for awards. It will also be one of the most talked about docs of next season.":

"The doc mixes interviews with Mark about his own personal struggles with his detailed explanations of the dolls and their personalities and backgrounds. Many dolls are direct stand-ins for someone in Mark’s life. Love interests, best friends, co-workers and neighbors all have their own alter ego doll. Mark, of course, has his own alter ego and the trials that Mark puts him through reveals an inner life that in reality Mark was hesitant to face...

Beyond being a hyper engaging narrative on several levels, the film really allows the key questions about art and reality to emerge. Can art/fiction be more ‘real’ than ‘reality”? Can art heal, both the creator and viewer? What role should the public/commerce play in the life of an artist?  MARWENCOL has it all. It is an emotional, unsentimental tale that is both laugh out loud funny and intellectually engaging and at the same time it’s all TRUE!"

Todd Brown of Twitch Film praises that the film is like "the best works of Errol Morris":

"MARWENCOL hooks you in with the sheer oddity of Hogancamp and his creation, the extreme otherness of the man and his work inspiring a sort of voyeuristic curiosity, before subtly turning things on their head until the audience comes to the realization that they're really no different from Hogancamp at all."

Reviewing the film for IFC's Indie Eye, Stephen Saito notes that MARWENCOL "never sits in judgment of its subject, a quality that allows for unforced answers to the usually ineffable questions of how art is created, how it can heal and how artists can reconcile their reality to the one that stands outside their door":

"A place where men are men and women wear Manolo Blahnik slingbacks, Marwencol is both a retreat from Hogancamp's real life of trying to figure out who he was as well as the menial work of sweeping up at a local restaurant, and a playground for all of his obsessions and fantasies that have all the twists and turns of a 1940s pulp novel. Every person from his real life has a Marwencol doppelganger, from his best friend Bert, who is immortalized in plasticine as a British commander, to his next door neighbor Colleen, the object of Mark's intense affections who indulges him up to a point and whose Barbie doll falls for Captain Hogancamp. Though Colleen's real marriage prevents that from happening in reality, it doesn't prevent Mark from naming a tank (and the last third of the town's name) in her honor. (To the director's credit, as compelling as Hogancamp's personal story is, Malmberg's smart enough to realize Hogancamp's storylines for his characters, full of love triangles and combat intrigue, are equally entertaining and devotes plenty of time to simply displaying the still portraits of the villagers in eerily realistic action.)"

Charles Ealy at Austin 360 calls it "one of the top documentaries at SXSW":

"It’s a fascinating look at the mind of a man who’s trying to recover from a tragedy. And the story really takes flight when Hogancamp’s work is noticed by a New York art gallery, which stages an exhibition of his photographic stories."

And indieWIRE sends questions to Jeff Malmberg:

"The biggest challenge was distance: Mark lives in upstate New York and I’m in California. It’s not really the kind of trip you can go over the weekend and then be back to work on Monday. The expense of those trips was really tough to deal with – the whole movie was paid for by my wife and I. I remember at times thinking, “Why couldn’t I do a doc about my next door neighbor or something?” but of course that’s not how it works. And I think like with hopefully any challenge in your path, you wind up with a solution that really helps your film in the end."

Comments

[mastercontrol]

Now I have to see this doc in a bad way! Thanks for educating us about this unique doc.

[charlie]

Such a great film

[AnnaB]

I would like to know why Mark Hogancamps photos are not in a San Francisco or LA art gallery?? They should be! If they are please tell me which ones...