American Movie

American Movie is a 1999 documentary directed By Chris Smith. This is one of Louis’s favorite documentaries. It fallows a part of Mark Borchardt s life. Mark wants to raise money to make a film online called “northwestern” and to create that film he starts making a horror movie called “coven” that will help him raise money for the original movie he wants to create.

The documentary film shows mark as a filmmaker with big dreams but also an unemployed, heavily in debt, borderline alcoholic, lives with his parents and is estranged from his ex-girlfriend and kids. It also shows us the motivation he has; with all these failures he is still hopeful he will make more of his life.

Mark builds his production crew from his friends and neighbors and we see the relationship that grows between everyone. A lot of highlight is flashed towards his best friend who has a similar personality and similar problems in his life. This documentary is incredibly interesting.

I would tell you more but I would ruin the whole documentary for you, wouldn’t I?

What I can still tell you is that this documentary shows that nothing can stand in your way as long as you don’t let it. Here is the link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMFZOu8rDUQ