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American Movie

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1999 documentary directed by Chris Smith This article is about the documentary featuring Mark Borchardt. For American films in general, see Cinema of the United States.
American Movie
Promotional release poster
Directed byChris Smith
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyChris Smith
Edited by
Music byMike Schank
Production
companies
  • C-Hundred Film Corporation
  • Civilian Pictures
  • Bluemark Productions
Distributed bySony Pictures Classics
Release date
  • January 1999 (1999-01)
Running time107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.2 million

American Movie is a 1999 American documentary film directed by Chris Smith, produced by Smith and Sarah Price, and edited by Jun Diaz and Barry Poltermann.

Filmed between September 1995 and August 1997, American Movie documents the making of Coven, an independent short horror film directed by Mark Borchardt. Produced for the purpose of raising capital for Northwestern, a feature film Borchardt intends to make, Coven suffers from numerous setbacks, including poor financing, a lack of planning, Borchardt's alcoholism, and the ineptitude of the friends and family he enlists as his production team. The documentary follows Borchardt's filmmaking process, interspersed with footage from both of Borchardt's developing projects.

American Movie received positive reviews and won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. It has since become a cult film.

Synopsis

Mark Borchardt of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, dreams of being a professional filmmaker. Currently, however, he delivers newspapers for a living, is deeply indebted, still lives with his parents, suffers from alcoholism, and is estranged from his ex-girlfriend, who is threatening to move out of state with their three children due in part to his inability to pay child support. He acknowledges his various failures, but aspires to one day make more of his life.

Hoping to jump-start his career, Mark restarts production on Northwestern, a feature film he has been planning for most of his adult life. Northwestern attracts some interest from the group of amateur actors with whom Mark has produced some 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 continue the project.

In order to attract the attention and financial resources needed to produce Northwestern, Mark decides to complete Coven (which he mispronounces with a long 'o'), a horror short that he began shooting in 1994 but ultimately abandoned. He receives financing from his uncle Bill, an increasingly senile retiree who lives in a dilapidated trailer despite having $280,000 in his bank account. Bill hesitantly agrees to invest in Coven with the goal of selling three thousand VHS copies, which Mark says will raise enough capital to finance Northwestern.

Although Mark is hard-working and knowledgeable about filmmaking, he is also poor at planning ahead and inarticulate as a director. He builds his production crew out of friends, family, and neighbors, many of whom are incompetent at their assigned tasks. Particular attention is given to his best friend Mike Schank, an amiable recovering alcoholic and drug addict who is one of the most reliable members of the crew. Mark and Mike bonded over their shared love of vodka as adolescents, but Mike is now sober and has joined Alcoholics Anonymous, though he has become a compulsive gambler; he reasons that, while you sometimes win and sometimes lose the lottery, "when you use drugs or alcohol...you always lose."

As work on Coven continues, Mark faces the skepticism of his family and his deepening alcoholism, though he does eventually wrap principal photography. At Thanksgiving dinner and later at a Super Bowl XXXI watch party, he gets drunk and becomes alternately agitated, cheery, and despondent. He wistfully watches footage he had shot for Northwestern in 1990 and contemplates whether or not he is a failure.

After an extended post-production process, during which Mark occasionally sleeps in an editing room at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Coven is finally finished minutes before its premiere at a theater in Milwaukee in the summer of 1997. The screening sells out, and Mark's family and friends are happy that the project has finally been completed.

Mark visits Uncle Bill and discusses the prospect of future fame and wealth and realizing the American Dream. The closing text reveals that Bill died on September 13, 1997, leaving Mark $50,000 towards completing Northwestern.

Reception and legacy

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 49 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.28/10. The site's consensus reads: "Well worth watching for film buffs and anyone who believes in following your dreams, American Movie is a warm, funny, and engrossing ode to creative passion". Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film conveys Borchardt's passion "Insightfully and stirringly, not to mention hilariously", and that "for anyone wondering where the spirit of maverick independent filmmaking has its source, you need look no further". Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four possible stars, calling it "a very funny, sometimes very sad documentary".

Amy Goodman of IndieWire called the film "an inspiration for filmmakers everywhere", and Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it "is sure to draw lots of laughs". Glenn Lovell of Variety called the film an "ambitious, wildly funny chronicle" and a "madcap tribute to a beer-guzzling Midwestern filmmaker".

Awards

The film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The International Documentary Association named it as one of the top twenty documentaries of all time in 2002. In 2004, it was named by The New York Times as one of the "1,000 Greatest Movies Ever Made".

Home media

American Movie was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on May 23, 2000, as a "Special Edition" including deleted scenes, Coven itself, and a commentary track by Chris Smith, Sarah Price, Borchardt, and Schank. It was also released on VHS on January 16, 2001. After being out of print for years, it was released on Blu-ray on October 18, 2022. It was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu Ray on October 15, 2024, which also contained a standard Blu Ray of the film.

Notes

  1. It appears as American Movie: The Making of Northwestern on the title screen, though the movie focuses on the production of Coven.
  2. Decades later, Northwestern remains uncompleted.

References

  1. "American Movie (1999)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  2. "Texas Documentary Tour, Chris Smith and American Movie". Oct 15, 1999. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  3. "Salon Arts & Entertainment "American Movie"". Salon.com. Nov 8, 1999. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  4. The Criterion Channel’s December 2022 Lineup|Current|The Criterion Collection
  5. "American Movie (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  6. Janet Maslin (November 5, 1999). "FILM REVIEW; Seat-of-the Pants Director: Lights! Camera! Gumption!". The New York Times. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  7. Roger Ebert (January 21, 2000). "American Movie Movie Review & Film Summary (2000)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  8. Goodman, Amy (November 3, 1999). "INTERVIEW: "American Movie"'s Mark Borchardt, An Inspiration for Filmmakers Everywhere". IndieWire. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  9. ^ Thomas, Kevin (Nov 12, 1999). "Movie Review; 'American Movie' Turns Camera on Indie Filmmaker". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  10. Lovell, Glenn (January 28, 1999). "Review: 'American Movie'". Variety. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  11. ""Bowling for Columbine Tops Best Documentary List", 12-12-2002". Archived from the original on 2009-08-30. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  12. "1,000 Greatest Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  13. American Movie. ISBN 0767846869.
  14. Aaron Beierle (June 3, 2000). "American Movie: Special Edition". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  15. American Movie . ISBN 0767839145.
  16. https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/American-Movie-4K-Blu-ray/367986/
  17. https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/American-Movie-4K-Blu-ray/367986/

External links

Works directed by Chris Smith
Feature films
TV series
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary
20th century
21st century
Awards
Preceded byThe Farm
tied with Frat House 		Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
1999 		Succeeded byLong Night's Journey Into Day
Categories: