REVIEW: ‘Beanpole’
Photo: Viktoria Miroshnichenko (right) and Vasilisa Perelygina (left) star in Beanpole. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber / Provided by Film Forum press site with permission.
Kantemir Balagov’s exquisite and endlessly fascinating drama Beanpole, Russia’s official submission for the 2020 Academy Awards, is a sweeping character study of two women trying to find a satisfying life for themselves in post-WWII Leningrad. They are friends and lost souls, living through ordeals and having their circles intertwine at a local hospital where they serve as nurses.
First, there’s Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko), who is nicknamed Beanpole because of her tall stature. She’s quiet and contemplative, and from time to time she endures some type of health episode that finds her frozen in place, staring into the distance and unable to move.
Her best friend is Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina), who saw time at the front during the war and has returned to the hospital setting to see her son, whom she left with Iya for safekeeping. The problem is that a horrible tragedy — a truly horrible tragedy that is difficult to watch and bear — has taken Masha’s son away from her, and Iya is left with the blame.
One might think this new loss in Masha’s life would cause an immovable wrench between the two friends, but it doesn’t. They have too much shared history and are two intertwined with each other to be mad for too long. However, that doesn’t mean Masha is letting go of her son so easily. She wants to be pregnant again, but because of the war, she is unable to carry a child. This is when Iya’s role as friend and confidante comes into focus, and Masha asks her a simple question: will you have my baby?
The hospital setting of Balagov’s drama is one of its strongest characteristics. The tortured lives and agonies of the male patients support the 130-minute film and provide context on the war and the continued suffering of the masses. A heartfelt storyline involves a young soldier who is paralyzed from the neck down and the sinking reality of his new, immobile life. Another character is the head doctor of the hospital, who seems nice enough, that is until he gets entangled in the web involving Masha and Iya and their decision to have a baby.
Balagov, a relatively young filmmaker, has crafted a movie that is assured in its confident storytelling about fragile characters. Iya, the nervous and shy one, and Masha, the more outgoing leader of the two, are original roles, cleverly written and expertly acted. They are interesting to watch and truly live unexpected, sometimes startling lives — lives that are as much defined by their personalities as they are by the surrounding circumstances of dread and collective trauma.
This is a cinematic drama steeped in reality, with all of its terrors, tears, tragedies and tendernesses.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Beanpole (2019). Directed by Kantemir Balagov. Starring Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina. Running time: 130 minutes. In Russian with English subtitles. Currently playing at New York City’s Film Forum. Rating: 
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