Starring Steve Carrell, Gwendoline Christie, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Universal, out now

 

Artist Mark Hogancamp is savagely beaten in a hate crime and slips into a fantasy world where he can assume the role of a hero rather than face his real-world attackers.

If the measure of a film’s success is its ability to offer something new and thought-provoking then Robert Zemeckis’ new drama is a winner, though you can’t help feel it will struggle to find an audience. It’s probably just a little too ‘out there’ for the average cinemagoer, its shifting tone making it difficult to categorise. Around a quarter of the movie is shot as CGI dramatisations of the doll tableaux that Hogancamp (an excellent Steve Carrell) has staged as part of his retreat, while the rest is regular live action.

We find out via flashback that Mark was brutally beaten at a bar for admitting his love of wearing women’s shoes, the pounding and head injuries subsequently robbing him of his memories. The  dolls in his fantasy World War II environment represent the real-world women who have kept him going while the Nazi soldiers are the thugs who broke him.

The entourage of spiky girls includes Gwendoline (Game of Thrones) Christie as his Russian helper and Leslie Mann as his new neighbour Nicol. As the prospect of confronting his attackers in court and opening a show at a gallery becomes too much for him, Mark takes more medication than prescribed and the lines between fantasy and reality become blurred.

The transformation of the actors into animated dolls via motion capture is something that Zemeckis has employed before (Beowulf and The Polar Express) and his regular composer Alan Silvestri has composed a score that veers between Captain America and Forrest Gump as required. The animated scenes are beautifully rendered and there’s some nice nods at the asexual nature and flexible nature of dolls’ bodies. I particularly liked the time machine that Mark was asked to build by evil sprite Deja Thoris (Diane Kruger) – do you suppose it looked like a flying DeLorean?

But all of these fantasy flourishes would count for nothing without a strong heart to the film and Carrell gives a heartbreaking non-showy study of a man who just isn’t coping and is falling deeper into the abyss. He’s riddled with guilt, relives the moment of the attack again and again and just wants to be happy. It’s a tough watch at times but you hang on to that dimmest of lights at the end of the tunnel through the optimism in Caroline Thompson’s (Edward Scissorhands) honest screenplay.

Verdict: One of the most unusual films in Robert Zemeckis’ catalogue, it may feature gun-toting Barbies and Nazi Action Men, but it’s also one of his most adult and engaging. Proper A-list filmmaking from a Hollywood studio that’s neither a sequel nor based on a franchise. Masterful and brave – I applaud its existence. 10/10

Nick Joy