I think the filmmaker confuses emotional manipulation with artistic merit. This film should have been 40 minutes shorter and spends so long lingering on people's faces without meaningful dialogue or interesting image composition that you could be forgiven you aren't watching some melodramatic soap opera stuck playing at half speed. Just because a film is provocative doesn't mean it's good. I'm fine with slow cinema, heavy subject matter and minimal dialogue, but so often these days these things are used as mask for confused and shallow directors hedging their bets and hoping that their film will be perceived as something deep and meaningful without doing any of the heavy lifting themselves. Usually films like this at least look good, but the cinematography to me was quite average and the saturated grade is tacky and cheap. I'm giving this three stars because I think so many people who give this a one star review could be perceived and dismissed as people who were shocked and horrified and "just weren't cut out for this type of film". The filmmaker was 28 when he directed this film. If you're under 30, you don't get to direct multiple feature films in Russia without being born into privilege and this film to me comes across as a little rich kid trying desperately to be gritty and bleak.
Review of Beanpole
