Kino Lorber has announced that they will be bringing Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole to Blu-Ray and DVD on June 2, 2020. The film was Russia’s submission for the Best International Feature category at the 2020 Oscars. On the same date, Kino Lorber will also release the director’s 2017 debut Tesnota (Closeness) on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Beanpole
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 the Cannes Film Festival for this richly burnished, occasionally harrowing rendering of the persistent scars of war..
Bonus Features: Interview with director Kantemir Balgov | Trailers
Tesnota (Closeness)
Synopsis: Tesnota (Closeness, 2017) is the incendiary debut feature from the young and brilliant Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole). 1998, Nalchik, the North Caucasus, Russia. 24-year-old Ilana works in her father’s garage to help him make ends meet. One evening, her extended family and friends gather to celebrate the engagement of her younger brother David. Later that night, the young couple is kidnapped, and a ransom demand delivered. In this close-knit Jewish enclave, involving the police is out of the question. How will the family raise the money to save David? Ilana and her parents, each in their own way, will go as far as necessary, whatever the risks to themselves.
Bonus Features: Trailers
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.