Review of American Movie (1999) by Shawn B — 16 Jul 2009

Really a movie for filmmakers, this guy's persistence is incredible.

Just rewatched it after graduating film school (1st watch was in high school)...it was interesting to compare impressions...of both the movie and my perceptions of succeeding in the film industry.

I'm bumping the score up to an 8...the moments they capture are heartbreaking, depressing, hilarious, and powerful. It's sad because these people are so, so, so fucking stupid. I realize that sounds elitist, but I'm sorry, they're fucking moronic. ESPECIALLY Borchardt's friend, Mike...HOLY SHIT he is AN IDIOT. When you spend $10 a day scratching off lotto tickets and then become overjoyed when you when $50, you're a fucking imbecile. Plain and simple. But what's interesting is that the man is so endearing...and the rest of the people equally as well. As the film spirals into a depressing blur of Thanksgivings and summer cookouts with very little of Borchardt's film complete, you're laughing at the stupidity of it all but at the same time cringing at the helplessness...at Borchardt's Swedish mother during the 1997 Superbowl when Mark rants and raves about never being a "factory worker"..."at least the Packers won" she says...at Borchardt himself when his ex-wife leaves him for good and he's alone in his car grabbing the last shot of a short film by himself...

The vortex of human disillusion and ruthlessness blended into a cocktail of bleak pipe dreams scratching and clawing their way closer to a distant reality...it's a sad, sad story. You see a collection of people who have become exhausted and depleted from life's neverending wear on the heart. Old Bill, the mumbling ancient "executive producer" of Borchardt's movie who has withered away into nothing but a pessimistic scant of a man without a single spark of ANYTHING left inside of him. Mike Schank, who seems to be operating on 8 brain cells total after years of drugs and heavy drinking. Ken Keen, who rocks a ponytail, and finds himself in and out of jail...there is not a single modicum of intelligence to be found in ANY of these people.

It is a FUCKING WONDER any films were made by these people. Seriously.

But all that aside, it is a testament to human will, and you have to feel overjoyed inside at the climax of the movie when the premiere finally arrives. There will always be that opportunity to seize the American dream...the only problem for Mark seems to be surrounding himself with fucking donkeys and drinking too much.