Chris Smith and Sarah Price's heartfelt, quirky, and utterly original documentary American Movie was not one of 1999's major blockbuster hits. And of the 200 movies listed in Box Office Mojo's list of film grosses from that year, American Movie comes in at number 200.
But it has gone on to become of the most critically successful and beloved documentaries ever made. The story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt's attempt to make his dream movie on a microbudget in his quiet midwestern town. The film ends up as something of a meditation on artistry, the American Dream, family, and the true costs of the relentless will to create.
And it is now considered by many to be one of the greatest documentaries ever made, and in some way helped usher in a new era of documentaries as a commercially viable, culturally relevant genre of film.
BJ Colangelo, who established herself as the expert on midwest quirkiness in our Drop Dead Gorgeous episode. rejoins us. And this time, so does Harmony Colangelo (who happen to be married and are also the co-hosts of the podcast This Ends at Prom) as we take a loving look at American Movie.
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