Review of American Movie (1999) by Alex M — 20 Feb 2004

[size=3]Some documentaries are about subjects that I know nothing about. [i]American Movie [/i]is the exact opposite, a documentary about something I can understand very deeply: a man who has a deep passion for movies and dreams of making them himself. The film chronicles the two year-process in which Mark Borchardt, an amateur (with a capital A) filmmaker, attempts to create a new low-budget horror movie. Borchardt works under extremely tight fiscal conditions, and often must employ his own friends and family as the actors and crew for his movies. Mark's gift (or curse, depending on how you view the situation) is that he is so relentlessly hopeful that he never gets discouraged or contemplates giving up on his project. [i]American Movie [/i]is at its best, and its funniest, when it is demonstrating the techniques that Mark uses to achieve his desired effect...techniques that often require his actors to suffer through actual physical pain. Yet I was never able to embrace this documentary because it frequently seems to be secretly mocking the delusions of its protagonist and his family. A great documentary should allow us to understand the point-of-view of its subjects, rather than standing smugly apart from them. Director Chris Smith does not noticeably interfere with what is being recorded, but the film still gives the impression that it is striving for laughs at the expense of Mark's passion. Another problem with [i]American Movie [/i]is that Mark, while commendably hard-working and in love with moviemaking, is frequently shrill and obnoxious. His obvious lack of talent makes it difficult for us to approve of his oftentimes destructive filmmaking techniques (such as destroying a kitchen to get the scene that he has envisioned). The movie is certainly funny at times, but it is often bleak and hopeless, a sharp contrast to Mark's incessant optimism. If the film had found the right balance between milking Mark's techniques for humour and also paying tribute to his commitment, it would have probably been more enjoyable. [i]American Movie [/i]succeeds at showing us the humourous and oftentimes ridiculous nature of low-budget filmmaking, but what is missing from the movie is the love of the low-budget process, a love that Mark Borchardt has in abundance.[/size].

[size=3](BASIC)[/size].