Begotten (1990)

This is an experimental film, and I've never been especially fond of films that fall into this genre. I know that some cinema fanatics are into them, but even so, Begotten is boring as hell.

The plot doesn't make much sense, and had I not read a description online, I would've had no idea what this film is about. The story supposedly goes like this: God commits suicide by disemboweling himself, "Mother Earth" manages to impregnate herself using his corpse, and she gives birth to a son who ends up getting attacked (and maybe killed) by a tribe of cannibals.

There's no dialogue at all and cinematography over the course of the film ranges from semi-decent to to unwatchable. In some scenes I couldn't even figure out what I was being shown.

Lastly, the reason I watched this film in the first place was that I suspected it would be disturbing. (This was during a period of time when I was on a mission to see the most disturbing films of all time. By the way, if that applies to you, I recommend A Serbian Film and The Human Centipede; those should do it for you.) There is some bizarre imagery that could be considered disturbing, but as a whole I found it more boring than anything else.

Fmovies: Absolutely the worse use of undeveloped film in the history of the world. How anyone can say this garbage (will not use film again) is watchable must be in an drug induced fever with internal complications.

And then we read where it took many hours of filming just to get a few seconds recorded. I once had a kidney stone that was with me for five days yet that is something that would not make for a pleasurable view for the public.

This garbage may have a 'cult' following- but so does the third Reich and both are not something the sane people of the world want to be associated.

I have watched many many movies, films and shows throughout my years and I have to say that this garbage was absolutely the worse project ever witnessed. I do not think I have ever gave a rating of one to anything and it is just too bad they do not have lower ratings because this deserved less.

"Shadow of the Vampire" wasn't great by any means - and vastly overrated, but "Begotten" makes that film look like a piece of classic cinema. The very height of pointless abstraction and meandering pretension, "Begotten" shares nothing with its audience other than animosity. Dull, witless and utterly, utterly empty of anything redeeming, the film seems to be impressed with itself, simply for being unbearably different than a watchable movie. It's just not worth the time.

Begotten fmovies. The visual effectiveness of this film is unmatched by anything I've seen. And the work required to make achieve it must have been incredibly long and tedious (you don't just stick "Kodak Grainy Film" in your camera to get this look). Don't watch this film to be entertained, watch it to be visually stimulated, watch it to be challenged and provoked in your thoughts on film and any other topic that comes to mind, religion will likely be one thought.

I came to this film with expectations of being similar in some ways to David Lynch's _Eraserhead_. After all, it has gritty photography and is supposed to be very weird and enigmatic, like some avant-garde artistic endeavor. I like the weird/bizarre in cinema (I LOVE lots of Jan Svankmajer's work); I like stuff that's enigmatic (_2001_ ending); I like stuff that has seeming incongruities and disturbing imagery (e.g. David Lynch's work). But this? This just plain sucked, as far as I'm concerned. Nothing of redeeming value as far as I could tell. There really IS nothing to tell. For 70 minutes, you have some guy writhing and twitching around while being dragged about by beings in cloaks. He even writhes and twitches around on what appears to be a big pile of timber. A guy in the beginning (it was supposed to be God, though how you can tell is beyond me) writhes and twitches around while appearing to poke himself and make a mess.

Actually, the main problem isn't any weirdness or ambiguity, it's the utter incomprehensibility of what's even going on. NOTHING discernable is happening in this film. (Things HAPPEN in _Eraserhead_.) I'll try to make an analogy and liken it to a piece of literature. On the one hand, you have articulate, meaningful phrases pieced together in a way that weirds you out. On the other hand, you have words strung together that fail even to meet any standards of grammatical correctness or comprehensibility (and not even failing to do so in a funny or interesting way). This so-called film falls into the latter category.

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."