Begotten (1991) review

Experimental feature by SUNY Purchase grad Merhige reminds me a lot of Jay Rosenblatt's shorts: heavily altered black and white imagery, lack of dialogue, no real 'characters,' metaphorical 'story' - it apparently took a ridiculous amount of time rephotographing the film to get it to look this stark and inhuman. After my first viewing I thought it became monotonous near the end, however for this second viewing I found myself entranced, having a rough idea of the concept (death, rebirth and the mythological origins of "existence") and able to simply flow with the images (in other words, I think this one might really depend on the viewer's mood). The opening sequence - of a God disemboweling himself and giving birth to "Mother Earth" - is distinctive and horrific; few films are as direct and uncompromising at depicting agony.