With 2019 coming to a close, we have a better idea of which films will be sticking around come awards time. And on the Foreign Language Film front, “Beanpole” is definitely one of those films that not only is getting acclaim but could find itself with some incredible nominations.
The Russian film is the official selection by that country for the Oscars and completely deserves it. As seen in the trailer, “Beanpole” is a story of friendship and loss from the perspective of two women in post-WWII Leningrad. And the film is easily one of the best to come out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
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The drama stars Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Vasilisa Perelygina, Konstantin Balakirev, and Andrey Bykov. “Beanpole” is directed by Kantemir Balagov, who won Un Certain Regard’s Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The filmmaker’s previous films, “Closeness,” won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2017 Un Certain Regard section.
In our review of “Beanpole,” we said, “In a film that is so disinterested to conforming to accustomed mainstream movie audiences taste and rhythms, and is committed to its sometimes difficult choices, the bold and exacting ‘Beanpole’ sometimes feels damn-near radical.”
“Beanpole” arrives in theaters on January 29, 2020.
Here’s the synopsis:
In post-WWII Leningrad, two women, Iya and Masha (astonishing newcomers Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), intensely bonded after fighting side by side as anti-aircraft gunners, attempt to readjust to a haunted world. As the film begins, Iya, long and slender and towering over everyone—hence the film’s title—works as a nurse in a shell-shocked hospital, presiding over traumatized soldiers. A shocking accident brings them closer and also seals their fates. The 28-year-old Russian director Kantemir Balagov won Un Certain Regard’s Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this richly burnished, occasionally harrowing rendering of the persistent scars of war.
