Review of American Movie (1999) by David P — 19 Dec 2009

I'm a documentary junkie because they consistently prove that truth is stranger then fiction. Their "plots" are forever surprising, the "dialogue" always sounds natural to my ear (with "Trekkies" as a notable exception) and the "characters" are often wildly original. Well, in addition to 1999 producing some of my favorite films of all time, it also saw the release of "American Movie", my all-time favorite documentary.

You want interesting characters? Meet Mark Borchardt. He's thirty years old with a rabid obsession for movies, but he has a few strikes against him. He lives in a small town in Wisconsin, he has no formal film training, no mentor, a handful of personal problems and enough debt to make the Federal Reserve wince. The only thing he's sure of: as long as he could remember, he's been totally enamored of cinema. He's always known exactly what he's wanted to do all of his life, problem is he just has no guidance, dicipline or help getting there.

Actually, that last one's not entirely true. His long-time best buddy Mike Schank does what he can to encourage Mark's low-budget efforts. Problem is, Mike seems barely conscious sometimes; a lifetime of heavy drug abuse makes him come across as a genial but oblivious combination of Ron Jeremy and David Crosby. Thing is, you'll be equally fascinated by Mike's own savant-level guitar skills (his tribute to the late Randy Rhodes is worth it's own documentary) and his easy-going good humor keeps Mark from imploding when any normal man would have gone off the deep end.

And then we meet Uncle Bill. Mark's dad Cliff describes his older brother with a hint of sadness. Once a brilliant man with a world of potential in front of him, Bill has all but given up on life. He sits alone in a ramshackle trailer and feigns ignorance when Mark asks him about the "American Dream". Bill DOES have a tremendous stockpile of savings however and this results in some darkly comic scenes of Mark trying to goad his uncle into the role of "film producer".

But Mark doesn't visit Bill just to weasel cash out of him, he tries several times to remind the old man that once your dreams die there's not a whole lot of reasons to forge on anymore. Bill is an forerunner to Mark's greatest fears. He tries to include his uncle in his life because he knows he could easily become Bill in a few years.

No one in the film claims to understand what Mark's trying to do. His family just humors his antics. One of his brothers even questions his sanity and thinks that Mark would be best suited "working in a factory". But between a disastrous stint in the army and plugging away at a series of (literally) dead end jobs, Mark understands that unless he tries to fulfill his destiny, he's staring down the barrel of solitary confinement in cold and empty trailer.

And out hero fails. A lot. Though technically well read and blessed with a great eye for shot composition and camera movement, Mark's talents are questionable at best. He's terrible at writing dialogue. He's afraid to complete a project out of fear of criticism. He drinks too much. The deck is stacked against him. Yet, if Mark eventually gives up and doesn't make it as a film-maker, it won't be from any lack of trying.

Which brings me to his good qualities, those things that ensure at least he's got a fighting chance. He's patient to the point of sainthood; on many occasions during the film you expect him to just "wig out" (in fact, Mark actually kinda looks like someone capable of "going postal", what ever that means). When things get rough, however, he just sighs in exasperation, swears a bit then gets right back at it. And, as Uncle Bill, will attest, Mark is a born salesman, which some might argue is half the battle right there.

Documentarian Chris Smith also had to be pretty patient himself, since it took Mark three years before he finally finished his first forty-minute short film "Coven" (pronounced "Cove-In" by it's director to ensure that the title doesn't rhyme with a certain kitchen appliance). You know Smith likely had miles of footage to contend with so kudos to him for recognizing what fantastic a subject matter this is and sticking with the project to see it through to it's natural conclusion.

"American Movie" is alternately pathetic to the point of wince-inducing and inspiring like nothing else I've seen before or since. Anytime you think you might risk spending a lifetime cleaning up someone else's shit (which happens to Mike very literally at one point), give this flick a spin.