Psycho. #24

"Beanpole vibes"

I'm a big fan of BEANPOLE. Can you recommend something else with similar vibes?

Your question has really made me laugh, ever since it dropped into the inbox at Psycho HQ. What on earth do you mean?! You’re after a film… let me just parse this… with similar vibes (?) to Kantemir Balagov’s masterpiece about war and trauma, Beanpole (2019). My god! I love it. I imagine you sitting on your sofa — for some reason you are American in this scenario — and turning to your wife of 25 years, as the credits roll on Kantemir Balagov’s seminal investigation into the consequences of war. Pulling some chicken meat off a drumstick with your teeth, you observe to Martha, your goodly spouse, “Well… goddamn. That’s some fuckin’ cinema right there. Hoo boy. Well I’ll be.” Martha nods, stricken by the quiet horrors you have witnessed together, laid out unflinchingly by the young master, Balagov. “Boy howdy,” you remark, slapping your leg. “I needs to git me some more o’ where that came from! Gosh darn it, what-all can I watch that’ll get me some of that good-ass Beanpole vibes?”

For weeks you stalk the house, up and down — discontent, because nothing is giving you that sweet Beanpole hit. The Lady from Shanghai? No good. My Dinner with Andre? Not quite what you’re after. Alain Resnais’s Dennis-Potter inspired, Paris-set musical rom-com On connait la chanson (Same Old Song)? No, not at all! Not even close, goddamn it Martha, I specifically asked for Beanpole vibes, what the hell is this shit?

Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov, 2019)