Speaking to us after a morning screening, Kantemir Balagov, director of this singular family drama, explained that he originally planned to shoot the film in Russia – setting for Beanpole, a critical smash for him at Cannes in 2019 – before the war in Ukraine caused the production to move to New Jersey.
That adds a familiar colour to this tale of the Circassian diaspora. Barry Keoghan and Riley Keough (neither surname yelling of the Caucasus region) play Azik, widowed brother, and Zalya, fraught sister, running a diner that serves, apparently, the best delen outside Nalchik.
So fine is Azik’s version of that cheese and potato dish that a well-off associate is keen on luring him to a posher restaurant. Meanwhile, Pyteh (Talha Akdogan), Azik’s teenage son, is excelling as a wrestler.
This version of Butterfly Jam, opening the Directors’ Fortnight strand, allows in the old debate about how much immigrants lose or gain when they assimilate. “You became so f**king American,” Azik says to his pregnant sister.
For the most part, however, the drama is taken up with the community’s internal concerns. Sister and brother are close – briefly acting out what I take to be a Circassian dance – but seem headed for a crash. Pyteh has taken pity on a troubled African-American schoolmate. More Caucasian shades on universal concerns await.
