[7]

This documentary about a Milwaukee indie filmmaker trying to finish his ultra-low budget horror movie is equal parts sad and hilarious. The filmmakers, Chris Smith and Sarah Price, follow Mark Borchardt as he flyers the town for cast & crew, scouts locations, records sound effects, and tries to pry more money for the budget from the pocketbook of his aging uncle. His dad thinks it’s all nonsense and his best friend Mike suffers from possible brain damage. Borchardt talks to the camera quite a bit about life and aspiration, but Price and Smith also capture his darker side a few times — the side that suffers from alcoholism and financial debt. Making a movie is a Herculean task under any circumstances, so I feel for Borchardt. I give mad props to a guy trying to make a film on actual film – splicing celluloid together at college editing bays. I simultaneously chuckle when the tired cast & crew perform their tasks less than enthusiastically, or when Borchardt insists the movie’s title, Coven, is pronounced with a long ‘o’. Because “Coven sounds like ‘oven’.” So American Movie is a comedy for sure, but also a fascinating slice of life piece, and maybe just something a little inspirational.