1999 Directed by Chris Smith
AMERICAN MOVIE is the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mission, and his dream. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, AMERICAN MOVIE is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man's quest for the American Dream.
This movie is hilarious and inspiring. It is absolutely untouchable. I can pop this DVD in at any time and enjoy this film as much as I did the first time I saw it. One of my favourite films of all time.
This movie is often cited as an example of a documentary that exploits its subject, but if you watch this and can only laugh at Mark Borchardt, that's on you. I'd hate to live in a world where his story isn't told.
This movie plays so much better for me now than it did in 1999, when I just saw it as an uncomfortable, mocking portrayal of a couple of awkward stoners trying and sort-of-succeeding at making a movie. Watching it now, I realize how rich a character study it is, and how much viewers get to learn about the lives of these men, and what filmmaking means to them. It comes across as friendly and understanding rather than sneering, but it acknowledges that not everyone is cut out to make the Great American Movie.
Currently a Movie Of The Week feature at TheDissolve.com.
Hilarious! Problem is, I don't know if it is meant to be hilarious, but I loved it. Mike's acid story had my wife and I rolling. It has some pretty quotable lines for a documentary, "downing peppermint schnapps and trying to call Moraco at 2am in the morning is not where you want to be" is a prime example. I love how eccentric Mark is, and no matter what was in his way he still carried on and barreled through the making of "Coven". I also love that Mike scored the film.
It is an experience for a documentary and I would suggest everyone check it out.
For anyone who ever wanted to make a film or ever left a dream behind
Making movies is hard work.
Obvious statement, right? Well, yeah, but it really can't be stressed enough.
Every project has its unique set of challenges, be it a multi-million dollar big studio production or a little passion project shot with your buddies on the weekend with a camera you got from the local pawn shop and whatever money you've saved from mowing lawns last summer. The maddening amount of organization one has to do. The scriptwriting (and re-writing). The storyboarding. The scheduling, location scouting and casting. That's not even mentioning getting the shots in a certain number of takes and the hours of editing afterward.…
"I was called to the bathroom at the cemetery to take care of something. I walked in the bathroom, and in the middle toilet right there... somebody didn't shit in the toilet, somebody shat on the toilet. They shat on the wall, they shat on the floor. I had to clean it up, man, but before that, for about 10 to 15 seconds man, I just stared at somebody's shit, man. To be totally honest with you, man, it was a really, really profound moment. Cuz I was thinkin', "I'm 30 years old, and in about 10 seconds I gotta start cleaning up somebody's shit, man.""
... guys... this is a documentary....
There are so many people across the world who want to make a film;have their vision presented in front of others. This documentary is a must watch for all those aspiring to the aforementioned dream. It is funny,heartbreaking ( which reminded me of Crumb at times) and inspiring.
This movie is funnier than most comedies and more moving than a lot of dramas. It would work even if it was fictional. The Rocky of movies about filmmaking.
I could say this movie is merely entertaining, but i think it would be disrespectful towards Mark Borchardt, who is having his life exposed here for other people to see, and he clearly takes his ambitions seriously, so no, i'm not gonna laugh on his back.
An attempt is made to comment on the 'american dream'. Mark literally has do delve in the shit and mud to get the things he wants. He's going for it, but everyone around seems apathetic towards it and don't exactly take him very seriously, despite always helping him. Sadly, i think this is the part of the movie i was less interested about. The takes on his personal life, his children and ex-wife, were…
"It's alright, it's okay. There's something to live for - Jesus told me so" will always mean so much to me. Love you bug.
Exploitative isn't exactly the word I'd use, but it's hard to watch this and not think that Smith's intention is to mock Borchardt and his aspirations, and that's something I can never really get behind (I felt this way even before we see the finished clips from Coven, which looks INCREDIBLE. God forbid someone have passions or dreams, I guess). Worse than that though are the treatments of the friend, who's frankly tragic struggles with addiction are played for laughs, and the uncle, who's so barely cognizant of his immediate surroundings that there's no way he's aware of how Smith paints him as a buffoonish figure.
Still, this wouldn't be the end of the world if this weren't so boring.…
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