Movies You Should See is a collection of essays covering movies you may or may not have heard of, but either way, you should consider seeing. I started this series during COVID because I couldn’t go to the movie theaters, but now that I can, I still feel it’s important to continue to highlight movies people should consider seeing. There are so many great movies out there that you may not have heard of, and I have a good knowledge of them. I have seen many great movies that are independent, or classics that aren’t as widely seen, that I would like to put a spotlight on. Enjoy this series.
“American Movie” is a documentary from 1999, about a quirky obsessive from Wisconsin named Mark Borchardt. His whole life has been about wanting to make a movie. His dream is to film his screenplay titled “Northwestern”, but instead due to lack of funds, decides to film a short film called “Coven”.
“American Movie” is very much a movie of its time, the late 90s, and it shows. Mark hangs out with his fellow obsessive friend, a guy named Mike, who as he puts it, “likes to party, but doesn’t party anymore,” as he plays his guitar. It’s a movie that doesn’t sound like much on the surface, but actually has a lot going on. Through the movie, we see Mike try to make his dream come true, but as an indie guy in Wisconsin, far from Hollywood.
A documentary by Chris Smith, who is better known today for the acclaimed Netflix documentary “Bad Vegan”, and the Jim Carrey documentary “Jim and Andy”, about Carrey preparing to play Andy Kaufman, “American Movie” speaks to anyone who not only had a dream, but is obsessive about the type of art they want to create. He borrows money from his uncle, he has an ex-girlfriend who has multiple kids with him, and he comes off like a screw up. However, I can't say that he’s lazy.
The film comes off like a bit of a “Spinal Tap” for the indie film crowd, at times, as some of it is really funny. One scene has Mark assure a cast member he will be safe when he does a stunt where his head is slammed into a cabinet, and well, things don’t go well. However, unlike the mockbuster, “Spinal Tap”, this film is real, and you aren’t laughing at Mark, as well as admiring his attempt to do something.
“American Movie” is considered a cult classic from the independent film era of the late 90s, where this type of filmmaking was becoming more mainstream. Documentary filmmaking was becoming a very profitable niche at the time, largely thanks to the influence of Michael Moore, and Chis Smith even appears in the 1997 Moore follow up to “Roger and Me”, “The Big One”. This film was part of that early wave of documentary filmmaking that was starting to inch into the mainstream.
This film is considered a cult classic, but not enough people beyond the small world of film people know about it, and more should. It was a love letter to anyone who tried to attempt anything, and failure is really beside the point.
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