“Death is easy, comedy is hard.” I am thinking that this doubly applies to a documentary; the form of filmmaking that despite the antics (or because of them) of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, is still viewed as stuffy and somewhat academic, outside of a few practitioners. American Movie, the winner of the 1999 Sundance film festival, busts that assumption wide open, its a perfect meditation on the American Dream and loaded with humour, exploitation, sadness and pathos. The exploits of Mark Bordchardt and his eccentric and white-trash friends are filled with moments of pure idiocy and self-aggrandizing that you simply ca not help but laugh at them. At the same time, the movie is warm and sympathetic to Mark’s plight to make a 40 minute Horror short called “Coven” (Pronounced COH-ven, the proper way, eschewed by Mark because it sounds too much like oven) to finance his dream feature, Northwestern. Rarely have I laughed out loud so much during a movie as I did during this one. This is certainly my favourite ‘comedy’ of 1999. Nearly all of it’s effortless humour is unintentional from the subjects, but very intentional from the filmmakers.

Yet, in the word of Roger Ebert, “If you’ve ever wanted to make a movie, see ‘American Movie,’ a documentary about someone who wants to make a movie more than you do.” Filled with zest, zeal and energy Mark fights the lack of support from his parents, siblings, ex-wife and most endearingly, his grudging Uncle who lives in a trailer but is sitting on $150,000 or so. Uncle Bill’s final speech in the movie, before the title cards reveal what happens to him, is as scatter shot as it is moving. The guy is clearly out of it, but still manages to be accidentally profound. A charming thing the movie’s characters all seem to have in common. Perhaps at the deft touch of Chris Smith’s direction and Sarah Price’s editing. Maybe the cliche home-video footage (in slow motion, no less) played at the end is maudlin and facile, but after seeing these guys still going at it after many set-backs, years, and what not later there is an effectiveness to even the most often used approaches.

If half the people in America had Mark’s determination, the average American worker would not have the bad reputation that it does (well, there is something to be said for some more effective planning on Bordchart & Co.). American Movie takes the subject of (truly) independent (amateur) filmmaking and made it into one of the most compelling, funny and empathic documentaries of the past decade.