There was a time---I didn't know whether to be shocked or impressed. I knew an impoverished, unemployed woman who said she wanted to hurry up and finish her novel so she could make some money. I don't know how serious she was. She was a very good writer but as far as I know, if her novel were published, it'd be her first.
American Movie is a documentary about Mark Borchardt. He's in dire straits financially, owes money to the IRS and to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue; he owes money to his father and owes back child support. Bankruptcy won't get him out of it. He works as an adult paperboy and does light maintenance at a cemetery.
He sets out to solve his problems by making a movie. All he'll have to do is sell 3,000 video cassettes at $14.99 each (about $24 in today's money) and make enough to finance his next movie that would be his salvation.
I know I've written about this before. I think I contrasted him with Robert Rodriguez who made El Mariachi in Mexico with the idea that he could "fail quietly", and I may have compared it with Project Greenlight. Borchardt got the worst of both worlds, trying to make a movie with almost no money AND doing it with a film crew recording his every move.
I guess I'm not giving anything away. Borchardt really did triumph once it was all over, but not in the way he planned.
Available on the Criterion Channel.
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