Part of Restoration Roundup
Presented in a surreal, gory and entirely visual manner, BEGOTTEN tells of the death of religion, the abuse of nature by Man and a nihilistic outlook on the essence of life. When it debuted in 1989, E. Elias Merhige’s BEGOTTEN fascinated and shocked those who witnessed it. Never before had the screen depicted such a primal, existential drama, and it became one of the must-see films of the 1990s. The intervening decades have not diminished the power of this unique motion picture experience. This new 4K restoration reveals the full photographic body of BEGOTTEN, preserving its otherworldly organic texture and retaining its visceral impact, a previously unknown life form captured in cinematic amber.
Restoration personally supervised by filmmaker E. Elias Merhige. Restored from the original 16mm negative and optical soundtrack. It was scanned and restored in 4K, and final grading was done at filmscan & more in Munich, Germany.
“One of the most important films of modern times." ––Susan Sontag
"The ultimate achievement of this hallucinatory masterpiece is to compel us to experience rather than witness…the atavistic mindsets and ferocious rituals of humanoids thousands of years ago. Obsessional, nightmarish, flamboyantly unsettling, it invades our subconscious, dragging — however much we resist — our own primitive fears and unacknowledged desires to the surface." ––Amos Vogel (excerpted in The Film Stage)
"If you're squeamish you should avoid this like the plague; others may find it hard to shake off the artistry and originality of this visionary effort. And if you’re looking to be freaked out you shouldn’t pass it up."––Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader