Leto (film)


Leto is a 2018 Russian musical film depicting the Leningrad underground rock scene of the early 1980s. It was directed by Kirill Serebrennikov. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The film is set in the summer of the early 1980s in Leningrad. The main storyline of the film tells the story of the relationship between the 19-year-old Viktor Tsoi, 26-year-old Mike Naumenko, and Naumenko's wife, Natalia, as well as the formation of the Leningrad Rock Club and the recording of Kino's first album, 45.

Cast

Filming began in July 2017 in St. Petersburg. At the end of August 2017, Serebrennikov was arrested, deported to Moscow on charges of fraud, and placed under house arrest. Nevertheless, by February 2018 he managed to finish the film without violating the prohibitions imposed by the court, as he completed his work using a computer not connected to the Internet. A few unfinished scenes were finished using his notes and based on previous rehearsals.
Initial stills from the film were shown in the edition of 2 February 2018 of Variety.

Music

The film features the music of Kino and other Soviet rock bands. The soundtrack also includes covers of The Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer", Iggy Pop's "Passenger", Lou Reed's "Perfect Day", and David Bowie's "All the Young Dudes" by contemporary Russian artists, such as Glintshake and Shortparis.
Leto won the Cannes Soundtrack Award.

Reception

Critical response

Allocine's review aggregator gave the film a score of 4.4 out of 5, with numerous outlets placing the film among the world's top films of 2018.
On the English-language review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 78%, based on 60 reviews with an average rating of 7.22/10. Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Music community

On 15 February 2018, the film was criticized by musician Boris Grebenshchikov, who felt that the script of the film was "a lie from beginning to end."
Alexei Rybin, one of the founders of Kino, criticized the script and forbade the use of his image in the film. The film was sharply criticized by the music producer Andrei Tropillo, who described the director Serebrennikov as "a man alien to rock culture and who knows nothing about it". Music critic Artemy Troitsky agreed that the script "causes great doubts", but urged people to wait for the finished film.