Michael J. Fox and the book ‘No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality’

Many will remember Michael J. Fox from the three movie series Back to the Future (1985), Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Back to the Future Part III (1990). Others may think back to Family Ties (1982-1989), Spin City (1996-2002) or The Good Wife (2009-2016). Still others will think of some parts of these, a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease for the Canadian actor, or the Michael J. Fox Foundation. The truth is that all of these are part of the journey for Michael J. Fox. Fox‘s book No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality touches on these and more.

(Michael J. Fox, Canadian, actor and optimist wrote No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality).

Staying optimistic and focused on the positive is not giggles, rainbows and unicorns every day. Fox recounts facing numerous falls, surgeries, hospital stays, in home health care and plenty of setbacks to last even the strongest optimist a long time. Sharing the feelings of these in the moment and respectfully was a charm of No Time Like the Future.

(From left, Tracy Pollan and Michael J. Fox met on the set of Family Ties and later married. This photo is from 1987).

Fox of course in not in his circumstances alone. Tracy Pollan, an actress Fox met on the set of Family Ties, remains perhaps the biggest advocate and cheerleader for the man who became her husband and father to their kids. In many ways the deeply personal story that Fox shares through anecdotes, recollections and reminiscing are made deeper and more meaningful in sharing the perspective of these two, the relationship they share, and the extended family that inhabits their space.

(From left, Tracy Pollan and Michael J. Fox in 2019).

The stories Fox shares of gaining support from Pollan‘s father and the couples kids bring a smile of recognition in the support that is present in and for this family. The stories of advocacy through the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and the recognition that Fox could benefit from the services his own foundation could afford emotional, psychologically and through medical support felt real and revealing. The fact that there takes time to figure things out makes the story relatable and worth the read.

(From left, Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan in 2019).

I enjoyed the mixture of a few extended stories combined with shorter anecdotes in telling the story that is No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality. That there is some time to delve into the impact of COVID-19 is legitimate, resonant and uplifting. With my rating of 4-stars on a scale of one-to-five, I am suggesting that you read this memoir.

Matt – Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Steve Carell and the Robert Zemeckis film ‘Welcome to Marwen’

The story was of a man struggling with PTSD who turned to creating a fictional village as a means of easing his pain following a physical attack that took his memory and his confidence. Based on the underlying true story and documentary Marwencol (2010), the holiday flop Welcome to Marwen (2018) offers a sweet if uneven sharing of one man’s use of imagination in an almost boyish attempt to return to himself.

(Steve Carell as as Mark Hogancamp in the film Welcome to Marwen).

Steve Carell stars in Welcome to Marwen as the real life inspiration for the movie, Mark Hogancamp. We are introduced from the beginning of the film into Hogancamp‘s coping mechanism of having built an imaginary Belgium city he initially calls Marwen. The imaginary stories Hoganamp sets there occur during World War II. Hogancamp and gains the aid of a defending set of women who save the day for the movie’s star in many miniature stories that see the ladies either rescue Hogancamp, or see Hogancamp‘s emotional needs met in some way by the ladies there who enact some fashion of roles meant to serve the struggling Hogancamp.

(From left to right, Janelle Monáe as GI Julie, Leslie Zemeckis as Suzette, Leslie Mann as Nicol, Eiza González as Carlala, Merritt Wever as Roberta and Gwendoline Christie as Anna in the film Welcome to Marwen).

Janelle Monáe as GI Julie, Leslie Zemeckis as Suzette, Leslie Mann as Nicol, Eiza González as Carlala, Merritt Wever as Roberta and Gwendoline Christie as Anna are the women who populate the fictional city of Marwen. Stefanie von Pfetten as Wendy, one of the namesakes of the made-up city name of Marwen with Mark Hogancamp himself, is given a naming right to the imaginary town that Mark Hogancamp has created owing to the fact that she found Mark after he was brutally beaten in a hate crime that caused the man’s PTSD. Roberta is one of the stronger, more enabling forces for Hogancamp through much of the film, though his recognition of this develops slowly over the course of the film.

(Leslie Mann as Nicol, left, and Steve Carell as Mark Hogancamp & Cap’n Hogie in the film Welcome to Marwen).

Leslie Mann as Nicol moves in across the street from Hogancamp during the movie, and immediately captures his interest. Nicol offers friendship and a background in nursing, wherein those forces combine into an insightful offering of support and friendship that Hogancamp misconstrues in his way as affection. In later changing the name of the fictional town of Marwen to Marwencol, it is the significance Nicol had for him in both overcoming his trauma and a personal demon, represented by Deja Thoris, as portrayed by Diane Kruger, that really proves meaningful for the film.

(Robert Zemeckis directed the film Welcome to Marwen).

The movie Welcome to Marwen was not received well by critics or audiences at its release, as indicated by the review on Rotten Tomatoes. Plot elements reminiscent of past Robert Zemeckis films, including Back to the Future Part II (1989), provided levity that could not raise feelings for a movie released in third week of December. A summer release may have helped that. I further think the movie was a bit too mature for the intended audience, meaning it would perhaps best land with young teenagers rather than the tweenagers and their parents for which this movie was better suited. Given all this, I rate Welcome to Marwen at 3.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, September 25, 2019