With more than a little Gump to his character, Steve Carrel portrays Mark Hogancamp, a photographer and model builder who has constructed an entire fictional town called Marwen in his yard, in order to deal with the trauma of a vicious assault he suffered some time earlier. He also possesses an interest in women’s shoes, a trait that either showcases a gender non-conforming side to himself, or merely the manic collective desires of a fetishist. As Mark awaits his trial date to see his assaulters face to face, he uses his fictional town and its characters as a way to avoid anything unpleasant or challenging that would present itself to him, resulting in his mind reaching into dangerously distant places, along with his dependence on a certain blue drug. What initially seems like a redemption story of overcoming tremendous pain and fear, becomes simultaneously a cautionary tale of isolating oneself from the outside world, and escaping solely into your imagination. The film does a masterful balancing act presenting the story one thinks they are receiving, and delivering a weirder, more melancholic side positing Mark’s attitudes towards women as a bigger issue than getting to his court hearing on time. Split between the real world and Mark’s inner world, Zemeckis gets to spend equal time with his flesh-and-blood actors, while furthering the mo-cap wonderlands he had dabbled in for nearly a decade, his two modes of filmmaking that are often propped up as opposing sides to his body of work and career. One of the more masterfully daring films (if not the most) in Zemeckis’ career, WELCOME TO MARWEN is an indictment of sad puppy-dog misogyny and a confessional booth for Zemeckis’ darker impulses about filmmaking (hello FABELMANS), as well as a summation of his entire career as a director.