An American Movie

An American Movie is a great little documentary. I watched this in the spring semester while taking one of Bjorn's Production classes and I got why he showed us it. We were only making 5 min shorts, and it was pretty time consuming and challenging, so we were able to really sympathize with Mark. This poor guy had so much debt and all he wanted to do was make a great horror movie, but problem after problem kept stopping him. At first Mark seems a bit annoying, preachy, and somewhat of a bum, but after watching the film, you realize Mark is a really smart and ambitious guy, who actually knows what he is doing. He's a hard worker and he's very passionate, and the guy not only grows on you but he inspires you. His family and friends also grow on you. They are a ragtag bunch but they love each other and stick together and although what Mark goes through is rough the movie is uplifting and happy because you know the guy is doing what he wants to do and is working to make his dream come true. I felt the makers of the documentary were sort of poking fun at the subjects but in the end I think they really do like Mark and he's painted as a sympathetic person. I really enjoyed this film immensely