28. American Movie (1999) - Dir: Chris Smith
"It's okay, it's alright...there's something to LIVE for, Jesus told me so."
-Uncle Bill
American Movie is a documentary film about two friends in Wisconsin trying desperately to make their life long dreams come true. Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank want nothing more in life but to obtain the “American Dream”. For them this dream is to make movies. From the time that these two friends could hold a camera, they were making short films, composing music for them, and learning the ends-and-outs of editing and shooting films. But, despite all of their hard work and practice, Mike and Mark never seem to get their personal or professional lives in order, and are fighting a constant uphill battle just to maintain the will to go on.
American Movie is one of the most inspirational movies I have ever seen, because it shows that, sometimes, good intentions just aren’t enough – its subject is honest. It shows the strong duality in our adult lives of dreams versus reality. In one hand we have our child hood dreams, and these dreams are often the things that make us truly happy, fulfill us both spiritually and physically, and give us the will and ability to face each day with passion. But, in the other hand we are faced with the reality that maybe our dreams won’t come true, or we feel that we lack the drive, ambition and means to obtain what really makes us happy. Mike and Mark are faced with these two separate ideas and the filmmakers show us both the hardships and the triumphs that come when one follows his or her dreams.
Mark Borchart’s dream is a film that he wrote and wishes to direct called North Western. This film is his opus, his Citizen Kane if you will. This film is what he feels he was put on Earth to accomplish. In order to make North Western though, Mark must first complete a short film called Coven (which he comically and constantly calls Coven, rhyming with flow-vin) and sell 3000 copies on video to get the money in order to fund his dream. Nothing ever seems to work out for him. No one except for his friend Mike, his mom, and a few others have any confidence in his film making abilities. He is faced with huge financial debts, troubled family relationships, the burden and joy of his 3 children and estranged girlfriend, and his love for his best friend Mike, who used drugs and alcohol very heavily in his early adulthood and late teens. Mark’s life would probably make a very interesting and dramatic film itself.
Mike Schank, Mark’s best friend, must be one the most drug-wasted people on the planet. Although he has been sober now for a few years, one might never tell. Mike’s relationship with Mark is a very important one, and without each other they probably wouldn’t be making films or might not even be alive today. Through this friendship we see that people are always stronger when they have someone to confide in, and someone to help out through the hard times. Although Mike may have killed about 90% of his brain cells, he still maintains an optimistic and jovial outlook on life – it seems like nothing can ever get him down.
Through hard work, perseverance and friendship, Mike, Mark and the film crew finally finish Coven and as of a couple of months after the documentary, 3000 copies of the video were sold. This small triumph does not really lead toward much in the lives of the two wannabe filmmakers. To this day, Mark’s dream film North Western is still unfinished, and I doubt it ever will be. I do not however see this a sad ending to such a comically bummer of a film. It is just true to life – sometimes our dreams do not come true. It is true to my life and true to many people’s lives. What American Movie shows is that we can move on and continue to live happy lives even if our dreams don’t necessarily come true. Sometimes our dreams change, sometimes we change and grow apart from our dreams. We should not measure our lives by what we accomplish, but rather we should measure our lives by the happiness and joy we bring to others and the serenity we live in. I recommend American Movie to all dreamers who feel like failures, and to all who strive to fulfill their dreams. Not only is it a wonderfully made documentary, but it is also an insightful testimony of reality.
