my favorite movie of 1999:

American Movie

(Documentary. Directed by Chris Smith.)

My “favorite movie(s) of each year” for the 1990s have included a few movies about making movies: The Player (1992), Living in Oblivion (1995), Boogie Nights (1997). Now we get to the last one of the ’90s, and the only documentary of the bunch: American Movie. Here’s the trailer on YouTube (I can’t embed the video in this post because it has an age restriction).

American Movie follows Mark Borchardt as he spends years making a short movie with almost no money. As he tells it, he grew up in a dysfunctional household, and spent his youth on movies and drinking. You get the feeling he hasn’t changed much by age 30. But he’s charismatic and confident enough to persuade friends and family members to work on his movie — acting, editing, putting up flyers, anything. (He plays the main character in his own movie. Sometimes his mom operates the camera … while trying to figure out how it works.)

Borchardt’s best friend, Mike Schank, helps him make the movie, including by playing acoustic guitar for the soundtrack, which also becomes the soundtrack of American Movie. (Schank is the one on the right in the photo below, while Borchardt looks through the camera.) Schank comes across as a lovable fool whose brain has been fried by substance abuse. It’s hard to tell how much he’s helping his friend, but he’s essential to the documentary — not just because he offers comic relief, but also because his simple, serene presence takes the edge off Borchardt’s frantic, obsessive drive. The movie suggests that Schank has replaced his past addictions with playing the lottery on a daily basis — tiny gambles that parallel the big gamble of making a movie.

[Update, October 13, 2022: Mike Schank has died at age 56.]

Borchardt is working on such a small scale that we don’t see extensive equipment and crew members taking up space in the way we’re used to seeing on a professional film set. Without those obstructions, we can enjoy a clearer view of the seemingly endless absurdities surrounding this man’s passionate endeavor.

On the surface, this documentary shows us the struggles and indignities of toiling in obscurity to make a no-budget movie. But it’s also about something deeper. The title, American Movie, hints at the idea of the American dream. This movie captures the way someone whose life seems hopeless and chaotic searches for order, meaning, success, and respect.

It’s all right! It’s okay! There’s something to live for! Jesus told me so!

Stream American Movie on these sites.

Click here for the full list of my favorite movie(s) of each year from 1920 to 2020.