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.
American Movie - The Making of Northwestern
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.
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…
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 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.
guys. Guys. GUYS. I've found something you're all gonna love. You need to watch it ASAP.
This movie was basically The Disaster Artist before The Disaster Artist. The film follows a cast of wacky characters who are all involved in the making of one lackluster movie, directed by Mark Borchardt, who had dreamed to do this for his whole life. It's set in Milwaukee (the land of RedLetterMedia), and throughout the course of the film we watch as Mark attempts to finally finish the movie he's been haphazardly trying to make for 3 whole years. The only difference between this and The Disaster Artist is that none of these people are actors. This movie isn't a re-enactment or a fiction.…
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.…
It's really interesting to see that this documentary is viewed as exploitative of its subject by some. In my eyes it only really celebrated small town independent filmmakers and the working class of america. Yes Mark does have a numerous amount of flaws, but we all do and it just makes him more interesting and the documentary surrounding him more compelling.
But honestly this was a lot more depressing than I expected. It's not just the idea that some people are doomed to continue the pursuit of their dream career, only to never fully reach it. It's honestly mostly that no one seemed to believe in Mark wholeheartedly. I don't care how much time someone needs, everyone deserves to be…
Film Genre Challenge for January: Documentary #23
A deeply ambitious and aspiring filmmaker's quest to create his independent short film and the struggles he went through. Hilariously uncomfortable but easily relatable.
I always used to get like really pissed off inside cuz I would wanna party really heavy and no one else would, and all a sudden Mark came over and um you know I had a bottle a vodka and he had a bottle a vodka and anyways I was so happy that I found someone who would drink vodka with me you know so um Mark would drink vodka with me all the time and I'd go over there all the time and buy a fifth of vodka and we'd share it ya know, and uh, that really made me happy.
So pumped.
I love anything that deals with the struggles of trying to make a movie, and this is maybe the realest one out there. What a find this Mark Borchardt character is, though. A real director if I ever knew one. Pigheaded but too much of a Wisconsin guy to be truly evil, yanno? Just the way he defiantly eats some chicken while staring into the camera after an incomprehensible rant, or how he doesn't believe in the proper pronunciation of "coven". Whole thing just put a smile on my face.
I watched this at 16 and I thought this was hilarious.
I rewatched it at 19 and thought it was tragic.
I rewatched it, now at 23, and see this as humbling.
The BEST movie about moviemaking, the story of Mark Borschardt is both an empathetic testament to attaining the American Dream and ponders if that's a dream worth chasing. Amid the many quotable lines and moments, the real wisdom in those moments really stuck out this time. There's so much to admire about Mark's passions and so much to worry about his vices, that it's hard not to relate. Insane to me that this is real life, but the more I think about, the less insane it gets.
If you wanna laugh, or cry, or - for you creative types - know thyself, I'd recommend watching American Movie. It kicks fuckin' ass. Just remember that life is kinda cool sometimes.
It has a few 5 star quotes and I'm pretty sure that's the only parts people actually remember and rate this movie by.
Feelings of nostalgia, feelings of Ed Wood and Rudy Ray Moore, feelings of the banes of low budget filmmaking. It hit very close to home many times...also quite literally since this was filmed in my hometown.
Anyway, I've met and seen Mark many of times. Even promoted his Dundee Alien Days short for WFF. Here is to many more Mark encounters and for everyones' dreams to come partly true 🍻💖
“ITS ALRIGHT...ITS OK...ERRRMM...SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR...JESUS TOLD ME SO...”
The absolute razor’s edge of funny and heartbreaking.
This magnificent nature documentary is able to capture John Waters characters out in the wild
40 hour work week factory worker bitches!!!!
i’ll be out here drinking peppermint shnappes while your boss makes a dollar and you make a dime
simply incredible. i couldn’t believe some of this wasn’t scripted. this was so funny and heartfelt, i really loved this.
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