The 1990s were the decade that redefined the American cinema scene through homegrown indie productions directed by the likes of Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino that provided an overhaul to the very concept of American indie movies. Suddenly, these rags-to-riches stories made it seem possible for anyone to make a movie. It’s fitting then that the decade would end with a documentary exploring how, even in this blossoming age of homegrown cinema, it’s still immensely difficult to make a movie. This documentary was American Movie, a Chris Smith directorial effort that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and was screened in 35mm at the Oak Cliff Film Festival yesterday.
This production follows aspiring Milwaukee, Wisconsin filmmaker Mark Borchardt over the course of three years as he tries to film a passion project called Newhaven before financial difficulties force him to shift gears and return to finishing up a short film called Coven. Among those tagging along with him this entire time are his best pal, recovering addict and musician Mike Schank, his family, his three kids and filmmakers Chris Smith and Sarah Price chronicling every step of this filmmaking process. Borchardt has very little means of getting his films made but that doesn't stop him from pushing forward in pursuing his filmmaking dreams in a manner that's sometimes abrasive, sometimes endearing and always fascinating.
American Movie, much like last years excellent Minding the Gap, kept me shocking me in how a documentary filmmaker actually managed to capture all of this footage as it was occuring. Whereas Minding the Gap generated such a response through dramatic revelations about the personal lives of its lead characters, American Movie instilled that response in me by creating moments of comedy so pure and wonderfully humorous that one can't believe they weren't pre-planned or scripted. So many major big-budget Hollywood comedies wish they had a quarter of the humor found in just documentary Chris Smith rolling the camera on Mark Borchardt driving around and delivering the most casual yet hysterical pieces of dialogue ("Yeah, I consider myself a half-Satanist/half-Christian, personally").
The editing of American Movie, accomplished by half-a-dozen people including Chris Smith and Sarah Price, is a key reason why so much of the comedy in this feature works so well, these editors know just what piece of footage to use as the perfect build-up to an incoming joke. Having one of Mark's friends, in an interview segment, assert how he isn't a troublemaker before cutting directly to a shot of Mark dryly noting that he's on his way to pick up that same friend from the police station is a comedic moment that owes much of its humor to its build-up and its editing. Memorable editing and a keen sense of timing similarly aids possibly the funniest scene in the entire production, which depicts Mark trying to get his Uncle Bill to record ADR (additional dialogue recording) over the course of 36 takes.
It's the movies very own version of the Sideshow Bob Rake Gag scene and it had my sides hurting from laughing so hard. That character of Uncle Bill serves as the focal point of some of the more poignant scenes of the motion picture, with Mark's tender-hearted relationship with his Uncle Bill allowing the viewer to see a rare side of Mark not solely defined by his filmmaking aspirations. Though American Movie finds plenty of entertaining comedy out of Mark's filmmaking exploits, it also makes some time to explore him as a larger person with a warts-and-all approach that sees both the best and worst parts of his personality and tenacious spirit being captured on camera.
Such an approach also includes brief interview segments touching on his apparently troubled childhood that begin to make one understand why adolescent Mark would find solace in the works of horror auteurs like Tobe Hooper or George A. Romero. The empathetic approach used for Mark is also taken with scene-stealing supporting character Mike, whose plight with addiction is treated with an appreciative level of grace by the filmmakers rather than mocking humor. Why treat such a delicate matter with inappropriate levels of mockery when Mike's assorted subdued line deliveries provide plenty of delightful comedy on their own as well as a great contrast to Mark's boisterous go-go-go nature.
All of the comedy is in service of a story that captures the aching grueling nature of getting a movie off the ground and the most intricate difficulties of this process are captured in such an authentic and intriguing manner that even non-film buffs would be hard-pressed not to become invested in the proceedings. As a cherry on top of an already entertaining documentary, American Movie was screened at the Oak Cliff Film Festival in a 35mm film format apparently taken from the features original 1999 theatrical. This means that American Movie was depicted in a grainy manner that felt like a fitting visual accompaniment for such a scrappy story about a similarly scrappy filmmaker-to-be.
“It’s OK! It’s alright! There’s something to live for!
Jesus told me so!”
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