Entertainment

MEDIEVAL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN

MY weekends are normally quiet and include watching a few movies, brunching on pancakes at Cowgirl on Hudson Street, and maybe perusing film books and magazines at St. Mark’s Bookshop in the East Village.

Nothing too strenuous; certainly nothing like what an odd collection of geeks does every other Sunday in a Baltimore field.

There, anywhere from 150 to 300 people – young and old, male and female – enter an imaginary medieval world they call Darkon. They don elaborate costumes and armor and proceed to beat the crap out of each other with rubber weapons.

“Darkon,” a documentary by Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer, examines this strange world.

Most participants say they use Darkon to escape their humdrum lives, which might include working at Starbucks.

Beckie, a 28-year-old single mom and former stripper, says Darkon is the only place where she’s in control of her own life. Stay-at-home dad Skip explains: “We’re explorers . . . We want to live out our adventures.” And Daniel hopes Darkon will help him lose pounds and find girls.

Neel and Meyer approach their subjects with open minds. Running around Baltimore in medieval armor isn’t everyone’s chalice of wine, they seem to be saying – but who are we to judge?

vam@nypost.com

DARKON

***

Weekend warriors.

Running time: 93 minutes. Not rated (mock violence). At the Cinema Village, 12th Street, east of Fifth Avenue.