Coven

Released 1997
Stars Mark Borchardt, Tom Schimmels, Mike Schank, Bill Borchardt
Directed by Mark Borchardt

Director Mark Borchardt is a man on a mission: he wants to make a feature-length film. His first step was to finish and sell this short film, Coven in order to finance his proposed feature film, Northwestern. The Coven project has been made widely known by Chris Smith's excellent American Movie, a documentary about Mark Borchardt and his drive to make it as a filmmaker.

But what about Coven? Does it show the potential for decent filmmaking? Perhaps surprisingly, it’s not a bad little film. As plots go, Coven has a pretty solid one. Borchardt's contempt for self-help groups shines through in this short film about a substance-abusing writer and the friend who tries to steer him straight. The dialogue does not exactly sound natural, but at least it is honest. Continuity errors are plentiful, the sound and picture quality fluctuate, and judging from what made it into the film, some of the outtakes must have been hilarious. One of the film’s stunts, which is documented in detail in American Movie, actually looks great in the finished film. Other scenes don't fare as well. Given that Coven was filmed over a three-year period – and editing was completed just two hours before the premiere – it is hardly surprising that there are flaws.

Borchardt's control over Coven’s production is evident in the documentary and comes across in the film itself. Unfortunately, there wasn’t quite enough money to make the film match the image in the writer/director's mind, but Borchardt does well with what he has. Menomonee Falls is neither Hollywood nor New York, Uncle Bill (the executive producer) is not a millionaire, and Borchardt is not Hitchcock. Yet.

Summary by Cheryl DeWolfe