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American Movie (1999)

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126 comments in total

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26 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
Just watched it again., 29 April 2004
Author: Kevin (RCamp48845@aol.com) from United States

I just watched this again the other night. It's probably the ninth or tenth time I've seen it, and I think it gets better every time. Contrary to what some people are saying, I don't think the makers of this film are laughing at and ridiculing Mark. Sure, some of the humor in the film is of the car-crash can't look away variety, but I feel underneath that they really admire the guy and his dogged tenacity. Another thing is I think Mark does show some skill as a director. Remember he has zero money shooting this stuff, and Coven was conceived as a money-making venture so he could make Northwestern. I think some of the samples they were showing from Northwestern actually looked very good. Now I don't think Mark writes the best dialogue in the world, but looking just at his photographic eye I'd say if the guy had any kind of schooling he might be shooting movies for someone right now. And finally, I think some of the people making negative comments about this movie need to look in the mirror and think about themselves a bit. OK, you don't like the movie, that's fine. But I've seen enough smug, superior, comments on here to make me want to puke. I love how as long as you're a poor, lower middle-class white in America people love to throw around terms like "white trash", "redneck", and other such pleasantries. I believe some scribe from Orange County at the beginning of the reviews even called them "inferior". I'm sure most of the people making the comments consider themselves liberals too; as if they have any concept of what that word means.

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24 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
So sad, it's good, 13 October 2003
Author: cortell from Austin, TX

I have mixed feelings towards this movie. I found the movie fascinating in the way people are fascinated by car wrecks, and I found it funny in the way one might uncontrollably burst out a laugh at the sight of an eldelry person slipping on an icy sidewalk. It's a sick and guilt ridden enjoyment. The lives of most of the people this movie brings you in contact with are so pathetic that you can't help being intrigued. But lives hardly worth living do not a good movie make. No; there was more to it than that. What sucked me in to this documentary was the perserverence and tenacity of the characters that carry on day after day in an existence that would drive most people to jump off the nearest bridge. People standing around in robes in a forst in the dead of winter for hours on end to help a friend that will no doubt produce a film only 400 locals would pay to see. A barely coherent old man who's too cheap to use the phone for local calls lends $3,000 to his nephew for a project he is certain is doomed. A mother who is as clueless as her heart is big sticks by her son through thick and thin. These things tug at the heart and, despite all the pity and head shaking they provoke, reveal a humanity that one can't help but be in awe of.

Oh, and the comedic moments are priceless. Uncle Bill steals the show in that department, but many others contribute. (The kitchen cabinet door scene nearly rolled me off the couch.) Yep; there are some priceless laugh spots in this film that almost make you wonder whether this isn't truly a mockumentary in the style Christofer Guest (Spinal Tap, Best In Show). But it's not; it's real life making you laugh, and that makes it funnier.

Yes; I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, but probably for the wrong reasons. But so did countless others. In the end, it doesn't matter. A good movie is a good movie.

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18 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
American tale, 16 November 1999
Author: Dubs from Philadelphia

At several points in "American Movie," would-be filmmaker Mark Borchadt is forced to confront what compels him on a trail with seemingly few rewards. A constant refrain is heard in his answers. He doesn't want to work the forgettable life of a newspaper boy; he wants to achieve celebrity. Why? Though Mark doesn't quite know, his volumnious collection of scripts and tomes underscores his simple love of film.

Yet "American Movie" is brutally honest in its treatment of Mark. While it allows his dreams of making "the great American film" to fly free on film, it also captures a life filled with lower-class constraints and realities. Despite all of Mark's desire, his motivation is frequently lost in a life gush with alcohol. Hence, the making of Borchadt's film, "Coven", goes from 6 months to 3 years and the movie suffers a bit from being drawn out.

"American Movie" is rife with memorable supporting characters and Mark is an able lead. This film is really the story of two filmmakers, the one in front of the camera and the one behind. Director Chris Smith has already received his plaudits, and once "American Movie" makes the rounds of the indy circuit, Mark Borchadt will also have his share of fame. Maybe then he'll know what to do with it.

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14 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
This is the best documentary ever made., 23 August 2003

Author: Tiffany Bartok from New York

This documentary is the most hypnotizing film I have seen in a long while. I must have had it on for an entire day. The selected material included in the piece flow amazingly well and develop three characters that are impossible to ever forget. The different layers of these people peel back to make an oddly moving film about perseverance, loyalty and determination. These characters ended up suprisingly fascinating and the film is unforgettable.

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14 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
A great film, 17 November 1999

Author: Jared X from New York City

Okay, so I'm a sucker for a good documentary, particularly where it tells a modern-day Don Quixote story. A caveat: I met Mark Borchardt in the winter of 1995/96 while he was still working on Coven. But I'll save that story for later. American Movie, which commenced production not long after, accurately portrays the person that I knew, although in greater depth than I expected or believed existed. This is simultaneously a very funny and very sad film, and is brilliantly executed. Mark comes across as his own worse enemy: his childlike ambition and optimism -- which I admire -- is undermined by his apparent artistic ineptitude as well as his bizarre fiscal expectations. But he's also a charismatic guy. His loyal Sancho Panza sidekick is equally likeable: loyal, if frazzled, to the core. Like Don Quixote, American Movie presents an often-ignored inefficient aspect of freedom -- that people will be drawn toward professions to which they are not particularly well-suited, irrespective of repeated failure. It is a great film.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Well Made Documentary; Heartbreaking, 6 August 2003
Author: shark-43 from L.A. CA

This is a very well made documentary. I read some of the other comments and I get a feeling that a few of these viewers don't watch too many documentaries (and all the reality TV crap doesn't count). Yes, this movie is painful at times because of the ineptness of the horro film director struggling to get his pals and relatives to help him make his demonic movie. But it shows someone (however debatable his talent)following a dream, a passion, a desire to do something. To break out of his hellish life of debts, and child out of wedlock and dreary 9-5 job. The camera captures wonderful moments of human behavior and just like project Greenlight, it shows what happens when people get in over their heads with trying to just film a simple scene (or a scene where someone's head has to go through a cabinet, or an old man has to clearly say ONE line and can't, etc.) BUT, a much better documentary about the same world is the much earlier 1975 documentary Demon Lover Diary - where someone tagged along as these Michigan guys tried to make their horror film. Hard to track down but highly recommended.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Don't Let This Happen To You, 24 December 2006
Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas

Praised by some, loathed by others, this Chris Smith documentary tells the real-life story of a twenty-something, amateur filmmaker named Mark Borchardt who sets out to complete his thirty minute film "Coven", as a first step toward what he hopes will be a lifelong career in feature film-making. Working menial jobs, Mark lives at home in his parent's basement. He's deep in debt. And he has no professional experience. What he does have is idealism, enthusiasm, supreme confidence, and enormous determination and zeal. The question in my mind was: does Mark have ... talent?

Reminiscent of Michael Moore's "Roger & Me" (1989), "American Movie" is both funny and depressing. We watch Mark: write a script, cast players, direct, edit, and especially crucial in Mark's case, find funding. With every one of these tasks Mark plods along frustrated, but determined. All of these activities involve other people, including his mom, his spaced-out friend Mike, and other locals. One of these locals is his real-life Uncle Bill who looks to be in his eighties.

At one point Uncle Bill, sitting in his cluttered trailer, demands to be fed before he will consent to being filmed. Later, Mark, being a perfectionist, requires more "takes" since Uncle Bill can't seem to get it right. Mark to Uncle Bill: "You have to believe in what you're saying", to which Uncle Bill responds: "Well, I don't; I don't believe in nothing you're doing". After "take" 31, Uncle Bill rebels: "Isn't that enough now? That's all for me".

Some reviewers of "American Movie" have criticized it as pointless voyeurism into the life of a no-talent loser. They refer to Mark and his cohorts as "trailer park white trash". Certainly, that is one interpretation, and along with it the conclusion that the film is a sad commentary on the impossibility of achieving Hollywood's idea of the American Dream, when you have no money to work with.

But other reviewers find the film to be inspiring, a cinematic pep talk for the underdog, and brutally honest about the realities of indie film-making. These viewers point out that despite the fact that Mark had no money to speak of, he still completed his film "Coven", and got it shown at the local theater.

My own conclusion is that "American Movie" is a well-crafted documentary useful for first time indie filmmakers. It's similar to a TV reality show, but without the competition. The cinematography and the editing are excellent. Although I found Mark to be irritating at times and overconfident of his skills, I admired his optimism and determination. "Coven", included as an extra on the DVD, may be a cinematic train wreck. But Mark's overall experience is no less valid as a guide to others. In essence, the message of "American Movie" is: don't let this happen to you.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
My all-time favourite film., 9 January 2002

Author: josephpace from Guelph, Ontario

Looking for proof that real life is more entertaining than fiction? You just found it. This superb documentary about an aspiring feature filmmaker (Mark Bortchart) who refuses to admit defeat is the funniest film I have ever seen -- probably because it's also one of the most tragic. Oddly enough, the more I watch the film the more inspired I become.

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11 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Mark Borchardt: Independent Wanna Be, 12 December 2003
Author: (caspian1978@hotmail.com) from Attleboro, MA

After seeing American Movie, you either hate Mark Borchardt or you understand him. If you are a struggling film maker trying to be the next George Romero, John Cassavetes or Alfred Hitchcock, you will understand Mark's determination and where he gets his talentless motivation. The audience that makes up American Movie is just that. Struggling film makers or die hard fans of Troma. Either way, they are all members of the club of hard knocks and non-union independent feature film. The moral of Mark's story is something short of following your dream. It's more and less than that. Whether you relate with Mark in more ways that one, Mark is living a lot of people's reality. Because of that, American Movie is important and should be watched by every film student in America.

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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
The Intriguing Story of Someone Who Refuses to Let Go of a Pipe Dream, 6 January 2001

Author: DarkCity (megad2@aol.com) from Cleveland

When we are young, we all pick out an ideal occupation for ourselves: artist, actor, writer, rocket scientist, etc.. While most of us grow out of our pipe dreams, the main character of American Movie, Mark, has yet to let go of his(and at a thirty-something age too): to become a wealthy acclaimed director. Despite the fact that Murphy's Law won't leave Mark alone and something always seems to go wrong, Mark is able to persevere during each deterring incident with an even greater drive to reach his goals. His desire to be a director so controls his character that he sees any person or thing in his life as something to exploit to reach the goal. While I noticed other IMDB commenters are lambasting Mark's selfishness, I think it's an almost justified sort-of selfishness because for Mark, not becoming a famous director is equivalent to death. He talks incessantly about leaving some kind of mark on the world, and he sees filmmaking as a way to do this.

Unfortunately any viewer of this movie picks up early on the fact that Mark has a near-zero chance of ever achieving his dream. Is he aware of this? No, not in the slightest, and none of his family or friends want to let him in on the secret(in fact even some of them believe in him). Strangely enough though, the disappointing future the viewer feels is sure to occur for Mark doesn't impede the ability to find humor in the film. This is a very very funny documentary. Most of the laughs come from when Mark is filming scenes for "Coven". There's a scene where an actor has to have his head break a cupboard, and it's just not working. Another scene has Mark's very old uncle Bill saying a few lines to the camera; needless to say, after 20 takes of a lot of headscratching and line-stumbling Bill finally decides he's had enough. A lot of humor sadly comes from Mark himself. His screenwriting, which he seems to think is worthy of a Pulitzer, is laughingly bad: "It's alright, it's ok, there is something to live for; Jesus told me so."

"American Movie" is, contrary to what people might think, a documentary that anyone can enjoy(even though my sister, who watched some scenes, seemed to think it was downright bizarre). The fact that Chris Smith can successfully bring to the screen a film that inspires both sadness from Mark's depressing lifestyle to hilarity with scenes with Bill(who unfortunately passed away before the film was released) says quite a lot about him. I wonder how the dreamer Mark regards this documentary. Does he realize that it casts him in a bad light? Or that it sets up to show him as a fool in many scenes of the film? Or does he see it as something that will be shown prior to his own A&E Biography segment? It's an intriguing subject of wonder, and I hope the latter comes true for him some day.

I highly recommend this movie: 9/10.

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