Begotten

December 19, 2024 5:15 PM

Begotten
posted by Lemkin (13 comments total)

[Director E. Elias] Merhige says, “It was really one of these transformative, ritualistic experiences, where the experience itself became what it was about, and the film was just ancillary to the experience.” Merhige built the optical printer used to process the 16mm film himself, and the film’s rendering process infamously took nearly ten hours for each resulting minute onscreen. In his FANGORIA interview, he adds that he has “always been interested in creating imagery through analog means – it mimics the whole nature of creation itself.” As ponderous a process it might have been for us, for Merhige it was like he was giving birth to his own universe.

posted by Lemkin at 5:16 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]

Whoa. Beyond the visuals, the polyrhythms of the heartbeats and nature sounds jumped out at me. Those sounds are definitely a part of what makes it so trance-inducing.
posted by umbú at 5:42 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]

A couple of years back i wrote: "Viscerally uncanny; ultimately, a grueling & unpleasant experience i admire without reservation."
posted by graywyvern at 5:44 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]

2:30
posted by Reverend John at 6:32 PM on December 19

I've always appreciated that "all other life" is listed in the cast when the credits roll.
posted by deadbilly at 6:51 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]

Damn. The filming is beautiful. Then it got gross and I noped out. Not for me.
posted by evilDoug at 8:34 PM on December 19

I remember renting this from the "Cult" section of Tower Video in 1996. I did not know what I was getting into. I have not seen it since, but I can still picture the murky black and white, and that person violently stabbing themself. 20-something me didn't know quite what to make of it.
posted by mrphancy at 8:35 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]

So - in 1997 I rented this from Four Star Video Heaven in Madison, 3 drops of pure liquid acid dropped on the tongue.
All alone in my little room and 13" TV. I'm not sure what I was thinking.
I don't know what I thought, except "woah lookit me, I'm such an edgy dude..."
That said - that opening scene was so fucking COOL.
I don't think I understood what was happening, that the entrails splitting open was supposed to be shit dropping out. I just thought it was dirt or something, and didn't 'get it'.
posted by symbioid at 10:15 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]

Best part is "that person" is supposed to be God :)
posted by symbioid at 10:16 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]

I don't know what I thought, except "woah lookit me, I'm such an edgy dude..."

This film was definitely part of the "I'm an edgy dude in the 90's" canon.
posted by deadbilly at 1:55 AM on December 20 [3 favorites]

Every since my industrial phase back in the day, I've seen snippets of this, but I've never watched the entire thing in full. Every couple of years I'll think, what was that black and white film that reminds me of a Marilyn Manson video, and have to go try to find it. Now, just in time for the holidays, I can watch the whole thing!!!
posted by mittens at 4:56 AM on December 20 [1 favorite]

In my top five films of all time. Perfect fusion of image and sound. Sad that it was so quickly co-opted by the performatively 'dark' brigades who never got past the surface of the thing.

Really needs a high-quality restoration - Merhige has said that the original DVD (let alone the crappy online copies) doesn't nearly do justice to the visuals.
posted by remembrancer at 5:25 AM on December 20 [3 favorites]

I have, for years, have tried to watch this completely. If this would've
been 1990's me (Who also watched the Broken movie), I would do it
at a moment's notice. I just don't know if I can do it now.
posted by Chocomog at 6:38 PM on December 20