The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

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friday, february 21, 2020

Movies

infirmary, where she is confront-

ed by the injuries and disabilities

of other returning soldiers. Every

day, s he must keep those suffering

in good spirits while mentally

battling her own demons and

caring for the toddler son of her

best friend Masha (Vasilisa Pere-

lygina, another first-timer), who

is still on the front line.

All this during a period of

imposed rationing that imparts a

pall over everything.

“Beanpole” begins to take shape

barely 20 minutes in, after a horri-

fying incident that will be hard to

stomach for even the most steeled

moviegoer. If you can grit through

it, the film offers a rewarding — if

also unnerving — look at survival

in the face of tragedy.

When Masha returns home, the

contrast with Beanpole is immedi-

ate. Where Beanpole is stoic and

doll-like, her friend is more visibly

scarred and agitated — nearly un-

hinged — by the conflicts raging

around and within them.

In one scene, Masha and Bean-

pole are walking at night, when a

couple of drunken young men leer

at them from a car. You brace

yourself for the worst, but Balagov

flips the scenario on its head: The

two women rebuff the vulgar cat-

calling, as Masha dominates the

Beanpole 

The ravages of war, from another traumatic perspective

BY HAU CHU

It’s easy to see why “Beanpole”
was celebrated at Cannes, where
Russian director Kantemir Bala-
gov took two prizes last year. The
film, which also earned a spot on
this year’s Oscar short list for best
international feature, is a mostly
empathetic tale of war’s c ruelty as
it affects both those who fight and
those who merely look on. That
empathy is conveyed through
haunting performances, stun-
ning direction and a sense of
detail that elevates it beyond
standard historical drama.
It is also one of the bleakest
films in recent memory, with an
unflinching look at war’s trauma
and the morbid bonds forged
between those who bear it.
The events of “Beanpole” t ake
place in 1945 Leningrad, just after
the brutal siege by the German
army. This ravaged setting is in-
troduced not with standard battle
imagery or fanfare, but with a
guttural sound issuing from the
throat of a young Russian nurse
nicknamed Beanpole, for her
towering and slender frame.
Shown in mid-seizure — the re-
sult of post-concussion syn-
drome, her pallid figure seems
frozen in space.
Discharged early from her post
as an antiaircraft fighter, Bean-
pole (first-time actress Viktoria
Miroshnichenko) takes a job in an

gawky driver, Sasha, into a sexual

encounter, while Beanpole whales

on his companion outside the car.

Later in the film, Sasha becomes

Masha’s desperate suitor.

At 28, Balagov has been hailed

as a prodigious new voice in

cinema, and there are clear signs

why in this, his second feature

after 2017’s “Closeness,” which

also won an award at Cannes. He

favors extreme close-ups and a

palette of colors and textures that

is, at times, exquisite; the hues of

bodies and battered walls vibrate,

nearly bursting from the screen.

But the film stumbles in the

screenplay. Balagov — who co-

wrote the script with Aleksandr

Te rekhov, based on a 1985 oral

history of Soviet women’s war-

time experience by Nobel Prize-

winning writer Svetlana

Alexievich — too often uses trau-

ma as a magnifying glass to show

the surface, rather than the

depths, of anguish. If “Beanpole”

doesn’t quite attain the heights it

reaches for, it is nevertheless a

wrenching depiction of war’s ef-

fects, extending well beyond the

battlefield.

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liana mukhamedzyanova/kino lorber

First-time actresses Vasilisa Perelygina, as Masha, and Viktoria Miroshnichenko, in the title role of

Beanpole, portray contrasting effects of war’s brutality, all of them harsh.

Unrated. at area theaters.

contains disturbing images and

sexual content, mature thematic

elements and nudity. in russian

with subtitles.

137 minutes.

A boy (Christopher Convery)
makes friends with a creepy life-
size doll in the horror sequel
“Brahms: The Boy II.” PG-13. At
area theaters. Contains terror,
violence, disturbing images and
mature thematic elements.
86 minutes.

Nick Kroll plays a dentist who,
while volunteering at the Winter
Olympics, falls for a skier, played
by real-life athlete Alexi Pappas in
“Olympic Dreams.” PG-13. At

Landmark’s West End Cinema.

See Common Sense Media’s re-

view on Page 32. Contains some

strong language and sexual refer-

ences. 83 minutes.

In “Goldie,” a teenager (fash-

ion model Slick Woods, making

her acting debut) fights to keep

child welfare workers away from

her younger siblings when their

mother is arrested. Unrated. At

Suns Cinema; also available on

demand. 88 minutes.

Also Opening

david bukach/sTX Films

From left, Owain Yeoman, Katie Holmes and Christopher Convery star in “Brahms: The Boy II,” a

horror sequel about a boy who makes friends with a creepy doll.

iFc Films

Nick Kroll plays a dentist at the Winter Olympics who falls for a
skier played by real-life Olympian Alexi Pappas.

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