Mark Hogencamp suffered brain damage after being beaten into a coma outside a bar in New York state. He discovered a way to work through the emotional and physical trauma by collecting action figure dolls, dressing them in army uniforms and imagining elaborate dramas taking place between them in a bar he cobbled together with scrap wood.

Like the histories between the figurines, Hogencamp’s story unfolded to reveal layer after layer of a remarkable life. He had little memory of his life before he was attacked, so he invented his life over again through the lives of the dolls. When the bar was no longer big enough to showcase the drama, Hogencamp built a village in his back yard, then photographed the stories that played out there. When he showed the photos to a professional photographer who befriended him, the photographer encouraged him to let him publish the photos in a New York City art magazine. That lead to a gallery showing, and then this remarkable film.

Five out of five.