I guess some people think this is exploitative, but it and the people in it are so inspiring to me. I love Mark Borchardt’s obsession with film; how he talks excitedly about shooting on 16mm black-and-white reversal stock and then later spends months stuck at a flatbed, cutting his direct-market thriller together. Watching this at a time when everyone has an HD camera and edit suite in their pocket, it’s amazing to watch a group of people who probably have no formal training actually shooting, tracking, and cutting their own movie together. Using a camcorder to make a cheapo SOV version of Coven or Northwestern would’ve been copping out — they wouldn’t be movies.

I love every single person in…

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 loved American Movie from the very first time I saw it—it was one of those real instant attraction kind of things. But I once saw this movie under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, and now I feel like I have a spiritual connection with it.

American Movie tells the story of Mark Borchardt, an eternal dreamer who one day wants to make a movie. He wants to tell a personal story set in the Midwest that explores America. No one takes his dream seriously. By looking at him, with his thick glasses, thin, tall frame and mullet haircut, you’d think he was pulling your leg. But if you listen to him, if you listen to the way that he…

This film is more hauntingly dystopian than any work of fiction. In some ways I think it's commendable and amazing that despite all odds this man is seeing his vision through to it's best possible end. In others, I think he's a manipulative and selifsh piece of shit; namely, I get a rotten feeling in my gut when I see him interact with his kids and uncle in the way that he does. Either way, this documentary is incredible. It's so bizarre and one of a kind while simultaneously reminding me of a dozen or so people from my hometown. It's laugh out loud funny and also insanely depressing, sometimes at the same time. I just want to emphasize, it's…

An inspiring, hilarious and extremely touching delve into what the American Dream means to people with big aspirations but without the resources to make it happen. I'll never understand why so many people dislike this movie.

Documentaries never really interest me; I struggle to engage with so many of them and often times I find the entire format can become irritating, but American Movie holds my attention (for the most part) and never ceases to put a smile on my face.

People have called it out for being exploitative, but I disagree. I think the subject here is something that deserves the deeper exploration the movie offers it, and at it's heart American Movie is a success story - it's…