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, 아메리칸 무비, Amerikan Filmi, 导演狂想曲
USA
Sundance Film Festival
USAR
AustraliaM
UK
Netherlands16
Australia
Netherlands
UK
USA
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.
realized this was not a mockumentary about halfway through and started crying. a singular experience. effortlessly capturing what it feels like to struggle to make something feels so ironic & honest & heartbreaking.
"That's what it's all about: rust and decay. But there's still the warmth of a human soul out there."
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.
A journey into the process of filmmaking from the perspective of one of us, an individual whose struggling all the way to make and see his dreams come true.
There is something special about seeing a film's behind-the-scenes material and knowing about the whole production process. I recently obtained access to iTunes and have been spending money for various classics and such that offer bonus content about behind the scenes and such to learn more about it. In the case of this film, it helps that all of the characters are so amusing or unusual that you become engrossed in their journey and cheer for all of them to cross the finish line. There comes a time when their success…
“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."
-Mark Borchardt
This film is pure driven snow. Distilled dream vapors ready to be…
I first saw this hilarious and bittersweet documentary when it premiered at Sundance in 99 and having not made a feature on my own yet, it was still a very accessible and even inspirational story of a man driven by his passions by hook, crook or crusty uncle.
Now that I’ve made a few films myself, Mark and his merry dysfunctional “family” of filmmakers striving to make two movies in front of Chris Smith’s cameras is even more powerful, sad and inspiring.
An absolute must see for every filmmaker or anyone with a dream and an open credit card.
R.I.P Mike.
