American Movie
Dir: Chris Smith
1999
****
I think American Movie is a film that will only be truly celebrated by Cinephiles and filmmakers. At times it is depressingly normal but makes up for it with heart. I wasn't sure it was real until halfway through, once I released it was, my enjoyment of it increased tenfold. This is a film about ambition and hope, true film making is Guerrilla style, full of passion and the occasional mistake. Mark Borchadt is infectiously watchable, the scenes with him and his 82 year old Uncle Bill are brilliant, made all the more poignant by Bill's passing just after the films completion. Films about films (rather than making of films) are a strange thing, genre-less and only for a select audience but American movie breaks down the barrier somewhat which is great, I just wonder if it did those involved any favours in their career quests. This is one of the last great films of the 90s.