Beanpole

(sung to the tune of “Theme from Flipper”): “They call her Beanpole, Beanpole, thinner than twigs, weighs less than guinea pigs…” The aftermath of German blockades lasting three years by war’s end has left the inhabitants of Leningrad traumatized. In particular, Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) who suffers a post-concussive ailment that leaves her awake but motionless, and led to the death of her friend Masha’s (Vasilia Perelygina) only child. Having received so many abortions while at the frontlines, Masha returns from war barren, unable to bear another child and it’s the sense of emptiness that is funneled throughout director Kantemir Balagov’s film of survival in a perpetual state of futility.

[NR]