“I was a failure,” says Mark Borchardt, and that’s the first thing you hear in American Movie. “I was a failure and I’d get very sad and depressed about it, and I can’t be that no more.” He’s pushing 30, the year is somewhere in the ‘90s, and he is driving in the dusk through Menominee Falls, WI, a blue winter world warmed by yellow streetlight glow. “I really feel like I betrayed myself bigtime,” he goes on in his thick Midwestern accent. “When I was growin’ up, I had all the potential in the world. Now I’m back to being Mark who has a beer in his hand and is thinking about the great American script, the great American movie. And this time I can’t fail, I won’t fail, it’s not in me. Not just finishing films, or in the long run getting some money, but right now I feel like it’s 5, 10, 15 years ago and I’ve got the same options again. But this time it’s most important not to fail — not just to drink and dream, but rather to create and complete.”
Read Full Article »
