‘I don’t believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes…’
While there is something to be said for Werner Herzog and his madcap revolving cast of bear enthusiasts and Antarctic explorers, often the best documentaries are those that take the mundane hopes and dreams of everyday life. American Movie, released in 1999, is the natural precursor to other lowkey documentary movies such as King of Kong, The Devil and Daniel Johnston and Anvil: The Story of Anvil. Like all three of those films, the key to American Movie’s success is treating its subjects with warmth and respect…
From documentarian Chris Smith, American Movie follows budding director and accidental philosopher Mark Borchardt as he attempts to finance and direct his first feature film, Coven (pronounced COE-ven so as not to rhyme with ‘oven’). Borchardt’s eccentric, ragtag bunch of helpers include his perenially negative uncle, Bill, and his amiable best friend and recovering alcoholic Mike. It’s impossible not to root for the trio and everyone in Borchardt’s life (aside from one of his brothers who hilariously trashes the project at every turn) seems to genuinely want Borchardt to achieve his dream of making a film despite the incredible odds against this ever happening.
American Movie taps into and even references the idea of the American Dream throughout. Smith wisely eschews any kind of editorialising and instead allows his subjects to speak for themselves. The result is a film that is both hilarious and often sad, the ache of wanting to achieve something, anything, is almost too much to bear at times, and it’s a feeling that anyone involved in the arts can surely relate to. It helps that these characters are just so damn compelling. Mike in particular feels like a character from a Mike Judge cartoon in all the best possible ways. I was saddened to learn that he passed away in 2022. I hope he was happy. And that’s the key thing. This film got me. I cared for the characters and their fates. Really cared.
Despite being a huge critical success, American Movie is not quite as well known as the some of the documentary films that it inspired. In a way, that kind of fits with the narrative of the film itself but this is the kind of film that I would recommend to anyone. It’s the kind of film that’s impossible to resist. I was sad when it ended.