Marwencol

This was a very surprising and interesting documentary.  But first off, let me get this out of the way.  The technical aspect of the filmmaking, the choices and resources of the filmmaker, weren’t that great.  A lot of that has to do with limitations, a hurdle that we all have to deal with.  Obviously he didn’t have a lot of money to work with.  So it wasn’t the prettiest of documentaries.  Okay, fine, who cares, moving on.  But there were a few obvious reenactments, specifically when he was checking the mail, which took me out of the movie.  Just shoot what’s happening when it’s happening and let us deal with the rest.  Both the sound and editing could also use some work.  

So overall it’s the work of a filmmaker still building his skills while dealing with limitations.  With that said he showed great insight when it came to picking his subject.  Hogancamp easily carries us through the movie despite the flaws in both the filmmaking and in himself.

What I see when I look at Hogancamp is a man reduced.  I don’t necessarily mean that in the diminishing kind of way, though that’s part of it.  I mean it in the sense of how you would reduce soup.  Leave it on the stove; let it boil down, until you’re left with core of what you were cooking with.  Any access baggage he picked up in his life was suddenly gone.  Every experience, every emotion, was brand new to him.  He ended up falling in love his neighbor, but by his own admission he had no idea what that feeling was or meant.  He had to learn to process it like a child would have to.  And he had to learn the appropriate boundaries for it like a child would have to.  Only difference is, when it’s a child it’s cute.  When it’s a middle-aged man it’s scary.  And it’s not that he would be dangerous in any sort of way, but he had the potential to be.  That’s why it was scary.

Speaking of scary, let’s address the sexual fantasies that are part of his little town.  Here’s the thing, he is, again, experiencing life like a child.  Not with the mentality of a child, as he’s got the intelligence of a grown man, but in the sense of feeling everything as though it’s brand new.  Being a grown man, with a grown man’s intelligence, he’s going to have desires.  As I said before, he’s not carrying the baggage of his past life anymore.  So experience isn’t going to color his desires or how he presents them in any way.  That makes it a very base and crude fantasy.  What’s good?  One woman.  What’s better?  More than one woman.  What’s best?  An entire town of women.  And, yeah, for sure some control issues mixed in there, but if you think you’re above all that (speaking to both male and female here) think again.  Sexuality is close to the surface no matter how pure you try to present yourself.  You too can be “reduced” in this sense and I think you’d be amazed how easily you could reach the same base place as Hogancamp has – no brain damage required!  Hogancamp doesn’t have the same restraint or shame that everyone has.  And you know what, screw it, let your freak flag fly Hogancamp!  To hell with shame, it’s not like everyone else in the world isn’t a secret and/or repressed pervert.  The thing about fantasies is there’re not real.  Swimming in vault of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck is a fantasy I know many people have and that will never happen - both for financial and general physics reasons.  Just like most of Hogancamp’s fantasy will never happen, but if that’s his fantasy then he should go ahead and own it the way he seems to own everything about himself.

That’s another thing I’ve got to address.  Hogancamp owns just about every part of who he is now.  And why wouldn’t he, he had to rebuild everything about himself.  Think about it, it’s almost like he’s his own art project.  And those parts that didn’t disappear when he got his head smashed, why would he try to hide those parts?  Those were the only crayons in the box left to color with.  He said it himself, “I have to be true to myself.”  I respect his ability to do that.  I mean, can you think of anyone who could or would present themselves to the world the way he does?  Is there one person in your life that says here’s my past, here’s my present, here’s my sexuality, here are my vices, and here is my damage?  The only thing he seems hesitant to reveal is that he cross-dresses.  With good reason too, since last time he did that he was almost beaten to death.  Though I do find it interesting that after he lost everything, after he was reduced down to the basics of a human mind, he still held onto the cross-dressing.  He lost everything else, including his drinking, but not that.  I personally will never understand why people get so freaked out by someone who likes to wear women’s clothing.  Why do you care?  It’s just cloth.  Does the way it’s cut and formed really matter that much?  I felt pretty good for the guy when he finally built up the nerve to rock the high heels at the art gallery.  I don’t know why he found those shoes so comfortable, I can’t imagine they actually are, but if I did there wouldn’t be anything to stop me from wearing them.  I’d be catwalking my way to Becker Hall each day letting everybody else just deal with it.

Well, enough about the guy.  Let’s talk about his therapy.  His pictures were amazing.  He managed to pose these scenes that seemed so naturalistic.  If you were to blur some of them it’d be very hard to tell they were dolls.  The art gallery guy really nailed it; there was no irony in his work.  The guy loves his dolls like people, quite literally.  I suppose he does not really love the dolls in as much as he loves the characters he’s created in his head.  I can only imagine that if I could do that, if I could allow myself to go there, I could write a pretty powerful movie.  It does seem very Lars and the Real Girl.  (Man, nobody tell this guy about those dolls. 0.o)  But he’s getting something out of this.  Whatever it is that his brain needs to heal, he’s found it.

I think the documentary ended on the perfect note.  It was oddly brilliant that his character in the doll world was starting the same therapy he did.  I’d like to imagine that there’s now a story within the story.  I hope he’s keeping track of the little dolls lives the way he did the bigger dolls.