REVIEW: American Movie (1999)

American Move

Rated: R

Runtime: 107 minutes

Starring: Mark Borchardt

My Rating: Four stars.

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There is a big difference between a passionate hobby and accomplishment.

Mark Borchardt, a poor, low-class aspiring filmmaker, is the subject of Chris Smith's documentary American Movie. Borchardt started making movies when he was 14-years-old. He's nearing 30 when Smith begins to follow him. Borchardt hasn't accomplished a thing, besides creating three offspring, a pile of debt, and two movies he's spent six years making.

He's a dreamer without means or direction. It's a good day when he's accepted for a new credit card. But his 35-minute short film, “Coven,” is his chance.

“I was always a failure, and I can't do that anymore,” he says to start the documentary. It's one of the few sentences that doesn't begin and end with “man.” He drinks beer, smokes weed, and dreams about flat-topped mansions because high, peaked ceilings are “obnoxious.” He surrounds himself with a league of misfit actors, friends, and producers. The best of them is Uncle Bill, who could be anywhere from 60-90-years-old.

Borchardt talks Bill into financing the end of “Coven,” which will cost $3,000. Borchardt needed everything but a crowbar to pry it out from where Bill kept it, if you get my drift. Once he does, the documentary turns from a pathetic portrait of Borchardt to the glorifaction of a man on a mission. The only question is whether Borchardt, or his friends, will get in his way.

American Movie won the “Grand Jury” prize at Sundance in 1999. The prize is awarded to the best independent documentary at the festival. The reason why it won is because it succeeds in the three elements that make a great documentary: educates, enlightens, entertains. Couple those with the fact everyone at Sundance either makes movies or has attempted to on some level, and it was an easy choice. At some point, all filmmakers faced the same challenges Borchardt does.

It took me a long time after American Movie ended for me to figure out what's the point. I'm still not sure, but I think it's about personal satisfaction and overcoming major hurdles from your past.

American Movie started with Smith following Borchardt as he tried to shoot his feature film, “Northwestern.” But when he ran out of money and realized he would need $50,000 to finish it, he decided to finish “Coven” instead.

“Northwestern,” started shooting six years prior to the documentary. “Coven,” was a year in the making. The documentary spans two years before it ends.

Smith sets-up Borchardt as a man with delusional dreams of stardom. He does his most creative work, according to Borchardt himself, sitting in his car at an airport parking lot. He works at a cemetery, and has extremely limited social skills. What he does have are friends that buy into his ideas. This ensemble is somehow worse-off than Borchardt. His best friend, Mike, is a recovering drug addict who spends $10 per day on scratch-off lottery tickets. His other friend, Kevin, spends time in-and-out of prison, also with a drug habit.

Borchardt is able to convince actors, cameramen and seemingly random people to help make “Coven” a possibility. All this while constantly hearing negativity from his own family. Even his mother says she doesn't think he'll ever make it big.

He tells Uncle Bill he's going to distribute “Coven” and give the $3,000 back when he makes multiple sales. Bill doesn't believe it, saying, “Multiple sales to who? That will be the day.”

But against all odds, Borchardt forges ahead. No matter how he handles his money, family or friends, you have to admit that he is one determined man. That's where I think the documentary really connects with the audience.

Before you begin to genuinely realize Borchardt's heart and drive, you view him as a cartoon. You're removed from it. He's either Beavis or Butthead, but he certainly isn't anything you'd take seriously. His pursuit of his dream, though, is something we can't help but admire. Then we are drawn in. Can he get it done? Will he finish “Coven”? The rest is just documenting the process.

Similar documentaries show a change in the subject after they go through a long journey, regardless of the end result. Borchardt doesn't change. He just continues to dream.

This documentary is good, but I refrain from calling it remarkable. It's a fine story with extraordinary characters. It entertains, but it took too long to find it's way. Smith spends too much time telling the back story and basically mocking Borchardt before he gets to the point. Four stars.

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