82
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrA strange and very beautiful documentary about the gray area between obsession and art.
- 91Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThis tender documentary considers the mysteries of both art and coping.
- 90Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonExactly the sort of mysterious and almost holy experience you hope to get from documentaries and rarely do, Jeff Malmberg's Marwencol is something like a homegrown slice of Herzog oddness, complete with true-crime backfill and juicy metafictive upshot.
- 90The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisFour years in the making, Marwencol emerges as a number of things: an absorbing portrait of an outsider artist; a fascinating journey from near-death to active life; a meditation on the brain's ability to forge new pathways when old ones have been destroyed.
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJeff Malmberg's documentary Marwencol is at its best when it focuses on Hogancamp's little world, and lets the artist walk the viewer through his town's increasingly dense mythology.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoFirst-time director Jeff Malmberg tells Hogancamp's fascinating story with sensitivity, never resorting to exploitation.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSan Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoIf you have even a passing interest in outsider art, you owe it to yourself to see Marwencol.
- 75Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayAt its heart, it's about the communities we forge - real and imagined - to save our own lives.
- 70VarietyVarietyHogancamp is a complex character, and Marwencol introduces the man in layers, creating an incomplete yet sympathetic portrait specialty audiences and hipsters can agree on.
- 60Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearWhen it comes to capturing the man behind the phenomenon, however, the film never progresses beyond a superficial, weird-yet-wonderful portraiture.