American Movie
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American Movie
Plot
Director Chris Smith made this documentary about independent filmmaking which had its world premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. American Movie centers on a low-budget horror-film buff named Mark Borchardt, who grew up on such horror classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead. Now in his late twenties, he has decided to make the ultimate horror opus in the form of an indie feature entitled Northwestern, the scariest film ever made in his Wisconsin town. Filled with determination and passion (and very little else), this documentary follows Mark for a year and a half in the making of Northwestern. The audience sees Mark fending off creditors, including the IRS, and avoiding child support payments so he can make this direct-to-video flick. His efforts to round up cast and crew are disastrous, as there is nobody in his town who shares his knowledge and passion for moviemaking. Eventually he decides to star in his film and wears a dozen crew members' hats as writer, producer, director, cameraman, editor, and soundman. American Movie follows this man with a dream to his dying uncle's trailer park, where he raises three thousand dollars. Unable to make an entire feature for that price, he scraps the idea in exchange for completing one of his many abandoned short films, Coven, which also premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The end is a world premiere as satisfying as getting accepted into Sundance. ~ Arthur Borman, RoviReview
American Movie is a memorable portrait of delusional ambition in small-town America, a slice of blue-collar weirdness that continues to prove that truth is stranger than fiction. If it weren't for scrappy wannabes like Mark Borchardt, no one would ever rise above their station in life, but it's the huge gulf between Borchardt's reality and his dreams that makes him such a fascinating study in willful denial. A talkative Midwestern heavy metal fan with long hair, glasses, and a boatload of personal problems, Borchardt is a dead-end small-timer with enough of a gift for self-promotion that he forms a small group of believers, only to fail them with his under-thought execution. Better than any fiction film could, American Movie captures a bracing image of the wintry Wisconsin inertia of these people's lives. There's great freak show humor here, too; in fact, one might mistake this for one of Christopher Guest's faux documentaries, so funny are Borchardt's trial-and-error attempts to cast his film, perform stunts, and generate rudimentary special effects. But the sadness is the lasting impression, especially in Mike Shank, Borchardt's cheery burnout of a best friend, and his curmudgeon uncle, a reluctant tightwad who trades financing for companionship. An interesting side note about American Movie is that through its distribution and limited popularity, the struggling filmmaker has actually had the last laugh. Viewers may shake their heads at the raving and foolish chutzpah he allows director Chris Smith to capture, but Borchardt has since gained notoriety for his laughably bad Coven, a cult must-see in certain horror/filmmaking circles, and he appeared at Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival in 2000 and 2001. ~ Derek Armstrong, RoviCast
- Mark Borchardt - Himself
- Mike Schank - Himself
Credit
Michael Stipe - Co-producer, Jim McKay - Co-producer, Chris Smith - Director, Barry Poltermann - Editor, Chris Smith - Editor, Jun Diaz - Editor, Mike Schank - Composer (Music Score), Julie Panebianco - Musical Direction/Supervision, Chris Smith - Cinematographer, Sarah Price - Producer, Chris Smith - Producer, Bluemark Productions - Producer, C Hundred Film Corp - Producer, Sarah Price - Sound/Sound Designer, Peter Zinda - Sound/Sound Designer, Sarah Price - Additional Cinematography, Simon Lund - Visual Effects Supervisor, Raymond Chi - Associate Editor, Scott Reeder - Associate Editor, Scott Wintheiser - Associate Editor, Paul S. Mezey - Post Production Supervisor, Alexander Markowsi - Re-Recording Mixer, Inc Cineric - Title Design, Todd Bishop - Title Design| American Mormon (2005 Film), American Mobster: Miami Shakedown (2012 Film) | |
| American Mullet (2001 Film), American Muscle (Film) |
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American Movie
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American Movie
This article is about the documentary featuring Mark Borchardt. For American films in general, see Cinema of the United States.
| American Movie | |
|---|---|
 American Movie poster |
|
| Directed by | Chris Smith |
| Produced by | Sarah Price Chris Smith |
| Starring | Mark Borchardt Tom Schimmels |
| Music by | Mike Schank |
| Cinematography | Chris Smith |
| Editing by | Jun Diaz Barry Poltermann Sarah Price Chris Smith Ray Chi Scott Reeder |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
| Release date(s) | November 5, 1999 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
American Movie: The Making of Northwestern is a 1999 documentary directed by Chris Smith. The film chronicles the real 1996-1997 making of Coven, an independent horror film directed by an independent filmmaker named Mark Borchardt. Produced for the purpose of raising capital for another film that Borchardt intends to make, the epic Northwestern, Coven suffers from numerous setbacks, including poor financing, a lack of planning, Borchardt's burgeoning alcoholism, and the ineptitude of the friends and family Borchardt hires to staff the production team.[1] The documentary follows Borchardt's filmmaking process from script to screen, and is interspersed with footage from both developing projects. American Movie was produced by Sarah Price, edited by Jun Diaz and Barry Poltermann and directed by Chris Smith. Filming for American Movie began in September 1995 and concluded in August 1997.[2] The film was a critical success upon its debut and went on to win the Grand Jury prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, and has since gone on to become a cult film.
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Synopsis
In 1996, Mark Borchardt, a blue-collar suburbanite, dreams of being a filmmaker. However, he is also an unemployed, deeply-indebted, borderline-alcoholic who still lives with his parents and is estranged from his ex-girlfriend, who is threatening to revoke custody of their three children. He acknowledges his various failures but aspires to one day make more of his life.
In an attempt to jump-start his amateur film making career, Mark restarts production on Northwestern, a feature-length film Mark has been planning for most of his adult life. Initially, the project attracts some interest from the group of amateur actors with whom Mark produces radio plays, but by the fourth production meeting, almost no one shows up and Mark is forced to acknowledge that he currently lacks the resources to ever move Northwestern past the pre-production phase.
In an attempt to drum up the attention and financial resources needed to film Northwestern, Mark decides to finally complete Coven, a horror short that he began shooting on 16mm film in 1994 but ultimately abandoned. Mark receives financing from his uncle Bill, a wise but increasingly senile eighty-two-year-old retiree who lives in a dilapidated trailer despite having nearly $300,000 in his bank account. Bill hesitantly agrees to invest in Coven with the goal of selling three-thousand VHS tapes, which he hopes will raise enough capital to finance Northwestern.
Mark re-starts production on Coven but suffers numerous mishaps. Although he is hard-working and knowledgeable about film making, he is also poor at planning ahead and inarticulate as a director. Additionally, Mark builds his production crew out of friends and neighbors, many of whom are incompetent at the tasks to which Mark assigns them. Particular attention is given to his best friend (and one of the only adept members of the crew) Mike Schank, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict who is in charge of scoring Coven. Although the two bonded over their shared alcoholism, Mike has coped with his own addictions by joining Alcoholics Anonymous and by becoming a compulsive gambler; in between work on Coven, Mike goes to the gas station to buy lottery tickets, sometimes accompanied by his AA sponsor, who then drives them both to Gamblers' Anonymous meetings.
As production goes forward, Mark faces the skepticism of his family and his own burgeoning alcoholism. At Thanksgiving dinner and, later, a family party to watch Super Bowl Sunday, Mark gets drunk and becomes aggressive to his family and friends, and his girlfriend briefly leaves him. Later, a wistful Mark watches amateur footage he shot of Northwestern in 1990 and contemplates whether or not he is a failure.
Mark finally wraps production of Coven and it premieres at a local theater in 1997. Mark's family and friends are happy that the project has finally been completed. In the final scene, Mark goes to visit Uncle Bill and discusses the prospects of future fame and wealth. Bill responds by advising Mark to focus on spiritual matters and bringing happiness into other people's lives.
Closing text reveals that Bill died later in 1997, and left Mark $50,000 in his will to help finance Northwestern.
Awards and reception
The film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.[3] In 2004, American Movie was named by the New York Times as one of the “1,000 Greatest Movies Ever Made”[4] and the International Documentary Association named it as one of the top 20 documentaries of all time.[5] In addition, the film was positively reviewed by various media outlets.[1][3][6]
References
- ^ a b "Salon Arts & Entertainment "American Movie"". Salon.com. Nov 8, 1999. http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/1999/11/08/americanmovie/index1.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "Texas Documentary Tour, Chris Smith and American Movie". Oct 15, 1999. http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A74286. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
- ^ a b Thomas, Kevin (Nov 12, 1999). "Movie Review; 'American Movie' Turns Camera on Indie Filmmaker". Los Angeles Times. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/46317542.html?dids=46317542:46317542&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+12%2C+1999&author=KEVIN+THOMAS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Movie+Review%3B+'American+Movie'+Turns+Camera+on+Indie+Filmmaker&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ "1,000 Greatest Movies Ever Made". New York Times. 2003-04-29. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ ""Bowling for Columbine Tops Best Documentary List", 12-12-2002". http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aabowlingawardnews.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ Morrow, Fiona (Jun 23, 2000). "The loser who made Milwaukee famous". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-loser-who-made-milwaukee-famous-714888.html. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
External links
| Preceded by The Farm tied with Frat House |
Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary 1999 |
Succeeded by Long Night's Journey Into Day |
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