A psychological portrait of the effects of an extremist attack on a rural place of worship, “Beginning” takes place in a sleepy provincial Georgian town, where a Jehovah Witness community is attacked by an extremist group. In the middle of this conflict resides Yana, the wife of the community leader, whose world, filled with sexism and hate, is slowly crumbling amidst the fear and chaos. Yana’s inner discontent grows wearier as she struggles to make sense of her desires in life, her chauvinist husband, and, if that weren’t enough, local police harassing her. The film is composed of just a handful of medium static shots. Kulumbegashvili never overplays her hand, she continuously shifts the mood of her film - it can go from meditative to angry to downright provocative in the span of a few scenes. This purposely keeps the viewer off-balance throughout its proceedings, the result is nothing short of a high-wire balancing act that threatens to derail at any second, the fact that it doesn’t is damn-near miraculous. It all culminates with a series of sequences that have the gut-punch only cinema can deliver to the viewer. “Beginning” was supposed to play in competition at Cannes this past May, it also bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival. The film, not an easy watch by any stretch of the imagination, is filled with anxieties, meditations, and poetry. Kulumbegashvili represents a glorious new voice in cinema.
Score: B+
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