Life is kinda cool sometimes.
"I was called to the bathroom at the cemetery to take care of something. I walked in the bathroom, and in the middle toilet right there... somebody didn't shit in the toilet, somebody shat on the toilet. They shat on the wall, they shat on the floor. I had to clean it up, man, but before that, for about 10 to 15 seconds man, I just stared at somebody's shit, man. To be totally honest with you, man, it was a really, really profound moment. Cuz I was thinkin', "I'm 30 years old, and in about 10 seconds I gotta start cleaning up somebody's shit, man.""
— Mark Borchardt
American Movie is a 1999 documentary directed by Chris Smith about independent filmmaker Mark Borchardt and the struggles he went through to create an independent film.
Part-time paperboy, army veteran, amateur filmmaker, slacker, and radio show scriptwriter Mark Borchardt has an idea for a Great American Movie: a potboiler drama about a misfit teen growing up in the suburbs of northwestern Milwaukee, titled simply Northwestern. Unfortunately, his own lack of directing experience stymies the project, and he falls back on completing his half-finished black-and-white horror short "Coven" to gain experience and, more importantly, capital. With the help of his friends and family, including his rich, decrepit Uncle Bill, to provide most of the funding, his brain-fried ex-stoner-turned-scratchoff-lottery-ticket-addict best friend Mike to provide the music, and his own mother to play an evil minion, Mark sets out to finish "Coven" at any cost, man.
Not to be confused with any movie with an American Title, of which it is but one example.
American Movie features the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Though they enjoy a decent relationship now, Mark's brothers note that their parents' marriage was extremely unstable and argumentative, and it affected the children so badly that Mark became increasingly inward and aloof.
- Addiction Displacement: Mike substitutes lottery cards for drugs and alcohol, because with drugs and alcohol - especially drugs - you always lose, but with the lottery you sometimes win.
- Adult Child: Mark is 30 with three kids to take care of and a ton of debt, but he thumbs his nose at the idea of pursuing a stable career in order to get his finances in order, instead begging his octogenarian uncle for money to fund his film projects and picking up money on the side through low-wage unskilled labor.
- The Alcoholic: As the stress of finishing "Coven" begins to get to him, Mark becomes more and more reliant on alcohol.
- American Title: Meant to invoke that an average American guy trying to get his dream of making a movie made across.
- Bittersweet Ending: Mark's film attracts a sold-out show with an audience who receive it warmly, allowing him to finally reap the fruits of his labor and finally enjoy the success of a creative project; but a frail Uncle Bill passes away a few months later, and as a meta example, Mark still has not made Northwestern and has only directed a couple of little-seen, poorly-received short films in the meantime.
- Black Sheep: Mark resents his brothers for pursuing normal lives, and his parents for looking down on his ambitions. His brothers don't have a lot of good to say about him either, by turns viewing him as (essentially) a gifted bullshitter who would be better suited to blue-collar factory work, and in childhood came off as someone destined to be a stalker or serial killer.
- Blunt "No": When the documentarians ask Mark's children if they want to make movies when they grow up, they immediately say no.
- Catchphrase: Mark ends virtually every sentence out of his mouth with the word "man." Watch the film once or twice, and you'll find yourself doing it.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Mark at times, but especially Mike.
- Cool Old Guy: Bill is an amicable old relative of Mark's who's always willing to help him with his movie projects, although he's not in the best health and he's slightly senile.
- Deadpan Snarker: Uncle Bill.Mark: And you get your name in the credits as a producer.Uncle Bill: [completely emotionless] Yaaaay.
- Growing Up Sucks: At one point, Mark watches footage from Northwestern that he shot in 1990, and wistfully remarks how disappointed he is in realizing how quickly time passes and how he'd let his creative pursuits fall to the wayside, thinking that he'd always have enough time.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Mark doesn't have much patience, and ruins Thanksgiving by exploding in anger when his father tells him to watch his language.
- Harmful to Minors: Mark sees no problem with showing his kids violent films targeted to adults or letting them spend the night sleeping in the editing room so that he can work.
- The Hyena: Mike gives a creepy chuckle before, during, and after each line of dialogue. Though his backstory reveals that he really isn't all there following an experience with blotter acid laced with PCP.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Mark's worst nightmare is the idea of being normal, having a stable career, and living a "sterile" life. During his tantrum at Thanksgiving, he derides his mother's calm and placid lifestyle to her face, declaring that he'll never be the same way.
- It's All About Me: This is Mark's project, and he's not very interested in taking any criticism or ideas about it. He even pushes back on the reality that he's mispronouncing "Coven." Somewhat justified in that most directors are self-centered by necessity.
- The Missus and the Ex: There's a brief conflict between Joan, Mark's current girlfriend and crew worker, and his ex-wife and the mother of his children, which causes both to blow up at him and storm off. Mark's mother comments that it's a problem that will probably never be resolved.
- Motor Mouth: Mark talks very quickly.
- Non-Indicative Name: The film's full title is American Movie: The Making of Northwestern. The film does start out with Borchardt trying to make Northwestern, but he quickly abandons it, and the rest of the movie is about making "Coven," a short film.
- Overly Long Scream: Mike belts out one of these during an
ADR session.Mark: That was wicked, man. - Sir Swears-a-Lot: Mark. Even his kids start to pick up on it, which obviously doesn't concern Mark.
- Uncle Pennybags: Mark's uncle finances the film, since Mark himself is so broke and debt-ridden that Mike confides in the camera crew that he won't even tell Mark that he won $50 in scratch-offs because Mark will just ask him for money. Given that Bill is halfway to senile, some might view this as Financial Abuse.
- Undying Loyalty: Mike is one of Mark's closest friends and asserts that he's happy to work on these movies because it's Mark's passion, and he'll always support him.
- The Unintelligible: Mark's mother is very difficult to understand, given that she's a Swedish expat living in America.
