BEGOTTEN: Because I can't forget

Every so often you'll encounter a film which stays in your mind. It might not be a classic movie, a film you enjoy or even very good. Still there is something about it which grabs hold of you as a viewer and never lets go. Such a movie was the feature film Begotten by Elias Merhige.

If you click on the headline above you'll find a link to YouTube where you can watch a trailer for this movie. Trust me it only hints at what the film itself will have in store.

The movie begins with Brainard Carey of Praxis as God Killing Himself. This is both the name of the character in the credits and what we see in the first very graphic scenes following the credits. If nothing else it lets you know that you are in for something very strange. When I first saw this at the Film Forum in Manhattan I immediately began telling everybody. It got to the point where my re-telling of the movie actually became a whole routine that I would do for anybody, even preserving it on audiotape which sadly seems to have gotten lost during one of my later moves.

I don't know that I'd ever want to sit through the movie again, since like ERASERHEAD one viewing may be enough for one lifetime, but it would be interesting to see it with fast-forward available. I'd love to write another review which I could go back and link to in the future. I think of the folks I know who read this blog, only Elayne will remember this.