Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #43. The Beanpole – Kantemir Balagov

Published on January 7, 2019

The Beanpole

The now twenty-seven-year-old Russian director Kantemir Balagov was one of the brightest cinematic discoveries of 2017 with his debut Closeness, which he is set to follow-up with his sophomore feature, The Beanpole. Balagov has dropped small hints about the project in various interviews, particularly after he served on the Un Certain Regard jury at Cannes in 2018. Producer Alexander Rodnyansky (who produced both Leviathan and Loveless for Andrey Zvyagintsev) has been more forthcoming about his upcoming collaboration with Balagov under his new production company AR Content. Balagov’s Closeness premiered in the 2017 Un Certain Regard program and took home the FIPRESCI Prize.

Gist: The Beanpole is set in post-WWII Leningrad as two female soldiers return from war and attempt to rebuild their lives in the ravaged city.

Release Date/Prediction: Details on the cast and production have yet to be published, but Balagov might have begun shooting this past October. If that’s the case, Cannes would be a likely return spot for the director, and based on the exuberant reception of his first film, The Beanpole could potentially enter the competition in 2019.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.