ShimmySnail
I actually really enjoyed this. After seeing American Movie, which I loved, I was ready to laugh my way through this, but I was surprised. The writing is good, and it has a surprise ending. I was surprised, anyway. Yes, it's a local film, it's short, it's a B movie featuring a bunch of amateur actors, but if people are going to give summer blockbusters a pass just because they feature big names and have lots of action and whizbang special effects, yet their writing sucks and they use pre-existing franchises as a crutch, then I'm going to give independent movies a pass on the low budget and lesser experience of the actors. I enjoyed it. If Borchardt's next film is as good, I'll be very pleased.
Newski_the_Hippie
Its one of those movies that is just a film to some, but a powerful social commentary for others. Mark Boschardt proves himself as a capable film maker, not the man so obviously mocked in American Movie (though when asked about his portrayal in American Movie, Mark Boschardt said "They were making their own movie, I'm not going to judge it so harshly").The story is simple; a drug addict/alcoholic writer almost dies from an overdose. Hoping to stay sober, he tries out a support group which doesn't quite work for him. So he tries to stay sober on his own. This, of course, becomes impossible as we see the true nature of the support group, which drives him to further drug use in the movie (they do not take kindly to his not returning). The motivations of the group are unknown throughout the movie, and are still unclear at the end.But the moral and message of the film are clear enough. Those who are in Alcoholics Anonymous will tell you to steer clear of this film, and to quote Boschardt once more "AA feels that if you don't get help from them, or God, then you haven't gotten help at all." This movie struck close to home with me, and I was really glad to be able to meet Mr. Boschardt himself. After all, it is quite obviously a very personal film for him. 4 stars.
dstern1
This short film is a really good representation of AA and other 12 step groups. While AA is not actually a satanic cult; it is a pseudo-religious organization. I was glad to see it shown for what it is. Do not get me wrong. AA serves many people. I just like to see it satirized.Most people seeing this film will be distracted by the poor production values. That is what happens when you have no budget. The story is great and would have been a great film if better financed.My sole opportunity to see this film was on the DVD with "American Movie." I was disappointed to see that the scene in which the head smashed into the cabinet never made it into the final cut of "Coven."
froboz
Mark Borchardt is the wannabe director made hartless fun off in the documentary "American Movie". Coven is his supposedly worthless movie.I watched it a week ago and thought it wasn't that bad.But wait a minute. This last week I have watched "Paycheck" and "Kill Bill Volume 1". They were really crap. Compared to them "Coven" is a masterpiece.What Coven does not have is production value. The kind of dependable thing you find in your average TV-movie. What Coven does have is artistic vision. Borchard has a camera eye for sure. The story is different for sure, an existential and delirious take on drug addiction.
AD
