American Movie | |
---|---|
Directed by | Chris Smith |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Chris Smith |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Mike Schank |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.2 million [1] |
American Movie [lower-alpha 1] 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, [2] 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. [3] 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. [4]
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. [lower-alpha 2]
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". [5] 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". [6] Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four possible stars, calling it "a very funny, sometimes very sad documentary". [7]
Amy Goodman of IndieWire called the film "an inspiration for filmmakers everywhere", [8] and Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it "is sure to draw lots of laughs". [9] Glenn Lovell of Variety called the film an "ambitious, wildly funny chronicle" and a "madcap tribute to a beer-guzzling Midwestern filmmaker". [10]
The film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. [9] The International Documentary Association named it as one of the top twenty documentaries of all time in 2002. [11] In 2004, it was named by The New York Times as one of the "1,000 Greatest Movies Ever Made". [12]
American Movie was released on VHS on January 16, 2001. [13] It was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on May 23, 2000, as a "Special Edition" including a deleted scenes, Coven itself, and a commentary track by Chris Smith, Sarah Price, Borchardt, and Schank. [14] [15]
Werner Herzog is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusual talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. His style involves avoiding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing his cast and crew into real situations mirroring those in the film they are working on.
Harmony Korine is an American filmmaker, actor, photographer, artist, and author. His methods feature an erratic, loose and transgressive aesthetic, exploring taboo themes and incorporating experimental techniques, and works with art, music, fashion and advertising.
Real Life is a 1979 American comedy film starring Albert Brooks, who also co-authored the screenplay alongside Monica Johnson and Harry Shearer. It is a spoof of the 1973 reality television program An American Family and portrays a documentary filmmaker named Albert Brooks who attempts to live with and film a dysfunctional family for one full year.
Mark Borchardt is an American independent filmmaker. He is best known as the subject of the 1999 film American Movie, which documented three years he spent writing, shooting and editing his horror short, Coven (1997).
Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers The Driller Killer (1979), Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones.
Jesus' Son is a 1999 drama film that was adapted from the novel of the same name by Denis Johnson. The film stars Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter, and Dennis Hopper, with Denis Leary, Will Patton, John Ventimiglia, Michael Shannon, and Jack Black in supporting roles. The film was directed by Alison Maclean and written by Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, and Oren Moverman.
My Best Fiend is a 1999 German documentary film written and directed by Werner Herzog, about his tumultuous yet productive relationship with German actor Klaus Kinski. It was released on DVD in 2000 by Anchor Bay.
The Muse is a 1999 American comedy film starring Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell and Jeff Bridges. It is the sixth film to be directed by Brooks, from a screenplay co-written with Monica Johnson. Stone portrays the titular muse who is tasked with reviving the career of a once-celebrated Hollywood screenwriter, played by Brooks. The film also features numerous cameos from well-known filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and James Cameron.
Overnight is a 2003 American documentary film by Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith. The film details several years in the life of filmmaker and musician Troy Duffy, the writer-director of The Boondock Saints (1999), and was filmed at his request.
Guerrilla filmmaking refers to a form of independent filmmaking characterized by ultra-low micro budgets, skeleton crews, and limited props using whatever resources, locations and equipment is available. The genre is named in reference to guerrilla warfare due to these techniques typically being used to shoot quickly in real locations without obtaining filming permits or providing any other sort of warning.
Coven is a 1997 American short independent horror film written, directed by and starring Mark Borchardt. The making of the film was chronicled in the 1999 documentary film American Movie. Coven was shot in black-and-white with local talent around Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Abby Singer is a 2003 dark comedy film that chronicles the life of Curtis Clemins, who is torn between the love of his life and accomplishing his dream. It had some film festival screenings in 2003 and again in 2006. The film also has several celebrity cameo appearances.
Jon Springer is an American independent filmmaker whose science fiction and horror films combine explicit imagery with religious subtext.
Andrew Swant is an American filmmaker best known for William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, and What What in the Butt.
Chris Smith is an American filmmaker. He directed American Movie, which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.
Mark Polish and Michael Polish, known informally as the Polish brothers, are American twin filmmakers. Michael usually directs their films, and Mark often has an acting role.
Rodman Flender is an American actor, writer, director and producer.
Destiny Turns on the Radio is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Jack Baran. The film starred Dylan McDermott, Nancy Travis, Quentin Tarantino, James LeGros and James Belushi. It marked the film debut role of David Cross, and was the first film produced by Rysher Entertainment.
Mikel Joseph Schank was an American actor and musician. He was close friends with independent filmmaker Mark Borchardt and helped Borchardt make the 1997 short horror film Coven. He appeared with Borchardt in the 1999 documentary film American Movie, for which Schank also provided music.
Mark Simon Wexler is an American documentary filmmaker and photojournalist.