 "One of the best documentaries I've ever seen!" | 2010-03-08 |
| - Reviewed By A. Beck from North Palm Beach, FL |
'American Movie' is one of those films that I've seen sitting on my local video store shelf for the past decade but never once thought about renting it. The simplistic VHS/DVD cover is one that always sparked my curiosity, but not enough for me to actually pick it up, flip it over and read the synopsis. I always assumed this was some sort of fake documentary similar to 'This is Spinal Tap' and never really gave it a chance. Bored and looking for something new to watch, I decided to finally give this one a go and I feel like kicking myself in the nuts for not doing so sooner.
The documentary follows inspired indie filmmaker Mark Borchardt from Milwaukee, Wisconsin as he attempts to direct his first full length feature film titled 'Northwestern'. Mark realizes early on that he doesn't have the funds needed to complete the project and is forced to put 'Northwestern' on hold. In order to raise money for the project he decides to go back and shoot another movie first...a 40 minute horror thriller titled 'Coven' which he started filming several years earlier but never finished. Mark's plan is to finish 'Coven' and sell 3,000 VHS copies at $14.95 each which would than give him enough money to make 'Northwestern'. Along for the ride is Mark's simpleminded best pal, Mike Schank and his elderly pessimistic uncle, Bill Borchardt whom together help Mark live out his dreams of becoming a real filmmaker.
I have to say that this is by far one of the best and most entertaining documentaries I've ever seen. It's like capturing lightning in a bottle...something that could never be duplicated. Even though the documentary essentially started out as a "Making Of" feature for Mark's would-be drama 'Northwestern', it eventually morphed into something much bigger and much more important than the movie itself. 'American Movie' is a captivating documentary dealing with friendships, aspirations, financial difficulties, substance abuse, life, death and everything in between.
There's never a dull moment in this 107 minute film...Whether it's Mark directing a group of actors dressed head-to-toe in black sheets, telling them that they need to "look more menacing"...or his best bud Mike Schank telling the ridiculous story of how he and Mark became such good friends. The entire movie is filled with strange, quirky characters which you can't help but to sympathize with and root for. The true unsung heroes in this documentary though are certainly the editors Jun Diaz and Barry Poltermann who do a fantastic job at turning hundreds of hours of raw footage into such a fantastic film.
I don't want to give too much away in terms of all the craziness that goes on in 'American Movie' but I strongly recommend everyone go out and buy this DVD. It's truly one of the funniest and most inspirational films I've seen in many years.
4.5 out of 5 Stars
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED |
| |
 "Interesting, if sometimes less than engaging" | 2009-10-18 |
| - Reviewed By One-Line Film Reviews from Easton, MD |
The Bottom Line:
American Movie is an interesting watch for anyone curious about the bottom feeders in the American independent film industry, but it's not very enjoyable--Mark Borchardt may be full of energy but he's not a very likable person to spend time with, and neither are his friends--and so even though I think the film has merit I would recommend watching a more enjoyable fictional film like Living in Oblivion instead.
3/4 |
| |
| "American "CLASSIC" movie!" | 2009-10-15 |
| - Reviewed By Mike Famico from Marblehead, MA |
| I thought this was a "mock"umentary; couldn't believe it was real!! Funniest movie I have seen in a LONG time. |
| |
| "Whether Mark Borchardt's dream is worth having or not, it's certainly worth filming" | 2009-09-22 |
| - Reviewed By Muzzlehatch from the walls of Gormenghast |
AMERICAN MOVIE starts off with a shot of its principle subject, Mark Borchardt, driving on I94, northbound I think. Right away it brings me home and in some respects I'll have a hard time treating this film objectively. Mark and his family and friends hail from southeastern Wisconsin, the Milwaukee suburbs, as does much of my family, and I grew up with and have known people like them all of my life. So excuse me if my review is a little more subjective and biased than usual.
Mark B is a very tall, 30ish working-class guy from Menomenee Falls WI (I think; that's the suburb most referred-to) a town on the outer ring of Milwaukee suburbs. Mark has been trying for years to raise money - and talent - for a full-length low budget horror film production called "Northwestern" but as the film opens in 1995 he's having a hard time getting it together. Part of the problem is that nobody else seems to share Mark's passion - he has a habit of talking in technical film jargon to people who have no comprehension of it, or for that matter of a lot of simpler concepts. Not having money or any kind of film education, Mark is surrounded by amateurs who are mostly family and friends, notably total burnout Mike Schank (who provided the beautiful, low-key accoustic guitar music for the film) and his uncle Bill, who is physically weak, terminally depressed, and possibly senile. Much of Mark's time is spent trying to cadge money out of Uncle Bill, who doesn't understand or care about Mark's project. Early on he realizes that the feature project just isn't going to happen soon, so he decides to finish off a short film he has been sitting on, Coven, and to put his hopes on video sales of this work getting him enough money to get going on "Northwestern."
Most of the rest of the film alternates between Mark filming, editing, and post-dubbing Coven, with many scenes being both funny and rather sad or pathetic - like his attempts to have his uncle Joe, the "executive producer" recite a very simple line - and his generally despondent personal life, including jobs as a paper deliveryman and a groundskeeper/janitor at a cemetery, the same cemetery (I think) that provides him with fond memories of childhood escapes from his ever-fighting parents. It's not a life of "quiet desperation", but rather one of loud, profane and sometimes almost spastic desperation. And Mark is always full of the kind of great lines that could never be made up for a film; when talking about his beliefs for example he says at one point "I'm half and half man, half with the Satanist idea and half with the Christian idea." It comes out so naturally and yet is...so hilarious.
For me this was, as I said, familiar territory; I have a cousin very much like Mark in many respects and I've been around would-be low-budget horror filmmakers quite a bit. The feel of the hopeless rut that Mark feels he's in, both physically (suburban Milwaukee ain't exactly exciting) and mentally (he drinks way too much and has problems with his ex-girlfriend and seeing his 3 kids) are really conveyed well, and yet there's an overriding optimism that always seems to carry him through. A lot of people have commented on his obnoxious, overbearing attitude, and it certainly isn't something that appeals to me - I'd probably hate the guy if I knew him in real life, at least if he kept making condescending statements to me about life and dreams like he does to his family - but somehow it's endearing when you're not right there and you're just seeing how he - somehow - manages to get his project through to completion, over two more years. Much of it is really funny - I couldn't help but find his buddy Mike funny despite his completely wasted, burnt-out life, and Mike too is good-natured about things. It's in a lot of ways a very hopeful and invigorating film about taking chances, and as somebody much like Mark (only older, even) who has frittered away a lot of my life, I can only take heart.
One odd element to the whole thing that I haven't seen anybody mention is the interplay between the filmmakers of AMERICAN MOVIE - themselves working on a very low budget and scrabbling around a bit - and Mark and his family and crew. It's an odd choice that there's never really any back-and-forth between them about the nature of the film-about-the-film, we don't know for example where Chris Smith and his crew are staying while they do this, how they're managing with their budget, etc. Not really a fault, but an interesting artistic choice to leave all of that out. What does Mark think about his life being filmed, for that matter? We don't get much of that either.
Also on this nicely produced DVD is COVEN, the actual short film that is the subject of the doc; like AMERICAN MOVIE I had seen this years ago, probably in a different cut, when or just after the documentary premiered in Chicago in 1999. I'd almost completely forgotten it, not because it's terrible or anything, but because it's so mediocre. It's obviously heartfelt, and it's really not a horror film despite the marketing - or if it is, it's more of a psychological horror film, with only a little bit of real violence at the end. Mark plays...Mark, a drug addict and alcoholic who wants to turn his life around, and gets involved in a 12-step type group that is obviously Christian in some ways (crosses all over) but also seems to be a cult. Or is it? Is Mark hallucinating the strange things that happen to him at the group meetings, and the "coven" (rhymes with "woven" of course) that at one point drags him through the mud in the woods, at another surrounds his car and beats on it with pipes. There's some interesting material here about addiction and delusion, but it's generally poorly acted and the lighting in the indoor scenes is such that things are often very indistinct, dark and ugly. Some of the outdoor sequences, the landscapes in particular, are rather beautiful. Shot on pretty grainy black and white 16mm.
|
| |
| "The modern day Ed Wood." | 2009-08-19 |
| - Reviewed By Action Jackson from Rocklin, California United States |
Like Ed Wood, Mark Borchardt is a determined, low-budget "joe the plumber" man who has big visions and dreams of creating a sweeping hollywood horror epic called "Northwestern"
Except theres one problem: He has no money... and equipment, training, actors, sets, education, and did I mention money?
But don't worry, he's got it all figured out. He decides to downgrade and finish a movie he started earlier in his "career" called "Coven"
Let hilarity and laughter ensue.
Although on the outset, this may appear to be a boring snooze fest, its not, and the reason mainly for that is because everything in this documentary is a true story. It's real. This isn't a docu about middle-aged men just having fun with a camera, like youtube. No, these guys, especially Mark Borchardt (the so called director/producer/filmmaker) really believe that the movie they are making is going to push units and get them to the big scene.
Watch and find out how Mark funds his movies, gets his actors, and juggles his job, 3 children, and ex-girlfriend. The scenery and his description for sets are just pure genius. There is many quotable lines in this documentary.
If you liked the movie Ed Wood, with Johnny Depp, you will not be disappointed with American Movie. |
| |
| "very good documentary with lots of laughs and so much more" | 2009-05-16 |
| - Reviewed By Matthew G. Sherwin from last seen screaming at Amazon customer service |
American Movie may sometimes have the feel of a staged mockumentary but indeed it truly is a documentary. The filmmakers, along with director Chris Smith, produced a well done documentary about a regular guy, a "man on the street" who wants to achieve his dream of producing a really good movie and making an honest buck off of it. The cinematography was very well done; and the interviews with filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mother, his father, his brothers, his girlfriend and buddies are very well done; they are sprinkled in with the rest of the documentary to produce an engaging film that won't leave you bored. The movie is funny, poignant and full of interesting twists to the story as we follow Mark Borchardt's quest to make his dreams come true.
When the action starts, we are quickly introduced to Mark Borchardt, a struggling young filmmaker who desperately wants to produce a film called "Northwestern;" this is his life long dream. However, Mark soon realizes that he lacks the funds to make the movie; and he turns to finishing the end of a much shorter film he calls "Coven" ("Coven" rhymes with "woven"). Mark must also talk others into acting in Coven, not to mention the uphill battle of recruiting disinterested people to be his film crew. It's a tough job; but Mark seems very determined when the film starts and that's a quality I admire very much.
We meet a few of the important people in Mark's life along the way. There's Mike Schank, an old buddy of Mark's; and we meet childhood friends, too. There's Mark's mother (Monica Borchardt) who isn't terribly optimistic about Mark in the film industry; and Mark's father (Cliff Borchardt) doesn't seem terribly optimistic, either--but hopes that at least Mark's "language" will tone down. (Mark's father is referring to swearing.) We also meet Mark's two brothers. There are two actors of interest in Mark's film entitled "Coven;" we meet and get interesting interview footage with actor Robert Richard Jorge and Tom Schimmels. Schimmels laments that Mark's schedule almost always runs late; but he very kindly stays late as much as he can to help Mark finish "Coven." I also liked the interview footage with Joan Petrie, Mark's girlfriend.
Of course, from here the story in this documentary can go just about anywhere--after all, this is real life! How does Mark handle the tension between him and his former girlfriend with whom he had three kids? Will Mark's brothers eventually help him by acting in "Coven?" What about Mark's elderly Uncle Bill Borchardt who rather generously forks over $3,000 to help Mark make "Coven;" will he realize a profit on his investment? Will other actors including Tom Schimmels and Miriam Frost have enough patience to remain in the film to its completion or will Mark have to replace them and redo several scenes? Watch and find out!
The DVD comes with a number of extras. I liked the seven or eight deleted scenes that we get; and we even get the entire film "Coven" as a wonderful extra bonus. Great!
Overall, American Movie has great significance as a documentary about an everyday man trying hard honestly to achieve his dreams. I admire him, the others we come to know, and the people who made this film a reality. I highly recommend this film for people who like documentaries; and people who are interested to see the everyday man who is not famous struggle to achieve his dreams would do well to get this DVD.
|
| |
Expedited Available
