Begotten (1990)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

E. Elias Merhige

Writer:

E. Elias Merhige (writer)

Release Date:

5 June 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror

Plot:

God disembowels himself with a straight razor. The spirit-like Mother Earth emerges, venturing into a bleak...

Plot Keywords:

Mother Earth | God | Razor | Nihilism | Disturbing

Cast

Brian Salzberg	...	God Killing Himself
Donna Dempsey	...	Mother Earth
Stephen Charles Barry	...	Son Of Earth - Flesh On Bone
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Gandia
Daniel Harkins
Michael Phillips
Erik Slavin
Arthur Streeter
Adolfo Vargas
Garfield White

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

None

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:(Banned) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Company:

Theatre Of Material

Trivia:

Approximately eight to ten hours of optical work - re-photographing, visual treatments, and filtering - was required to produce one minute of film. The total postproduction period for the 78-minute movie was eight months.

Movie Connections:

References Eraserhead (1977)

One of the greats

I first heard of Begotten when a girlfriend of mine picked it up in a "cult classics" section of my local video retailer. She knew I liked obscure artsy movies so I rented it and brought it home. It sat on my TV for a couple of days and then I put it in the VCR just before going to bed. I thought that maybe I'll see what it's like first then devote more time to it the next day. What followed was that it actually woke me up. I sat through the entire film and loved it. After I went through the closing credits I watched it again. Only after you see the closing credits do you get an idea of who is who. After you know that you can watch it again with renewed appreciation. Don't listen to the people that tear this movie apart. It's not for everyone. If you're someone that doesn't like reading subtitles than this movie isn't for you (not that there are subtitles, there's no dialog at all). If you're someone that actually owns Rush Hour 2 then this movie isn't for you.

This movie is truly original and inspiring. It does what other movies have never done. It looks like nothing else and is bolder than just about everything out there - from 1989 to the current date. You can tell that everyone involved in the making of this movie truly love the art of what they do and understand what can be captured in cinema form.

If you're looking to be "entertained" then the movie isn't for you. However, it is pure escapism in some extreme way and in film form. It's like someone attached wires to my head and taped one of my worst nightmares. But this nightmare makes sense if you really sit and watch the images, dissect the action of the actors, and don't sit there noodling your guitar passively but watch and not blink.

People compare it to Eraserhead but Begotten is so much more. I'm not joking when I say it is my favorite movie. It's an important film, visually stimulating, mechanically inspiring, and hypnotic. One review I read about it is very true though, "no one will get through Begotten without being marked."