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Leto

Play trailer 0:57 Poster for Leto Released Jun 7, 2019 2h 6m Biography Drama Music Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
78% Tomatometer 59 Reviews 79% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
A love triangle emerges around a rock 'n' roll musician, his protege, and his wife in 1980s Russia.
Leto

What to Know

Critics Consensus

A love story set against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in Russian culture, Leto captures people -- and a generation -- in thrilling flux.

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Critics Reviews

View All (59) Critics Reviews
Ben Sachs Chicago Reader If you can disregard the derivativeness, this has some decent music and charismatic performances, and it provides some insights into the Western aspirations of Soviet youth culture. Mar 25, 2020 Full Review Amy Nicholson FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) An incredibly imagined film. Oct 1, 2019 Full Review Kevin Maher Times (UK) Don't let the premise intimidate you. Rated: 4/5 Aug 16, 2019 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia This dramatic musical manages to conquer me with the biography of Soviet rock legends Víktor Tsoi and Mike Naumenko. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 7/10 Jul 26, 2020 Full Review Mina Takla AwardsWatch Kirill Serebrennikov's LETO is a tribute to music, dreams of youth and the power - and beauty of ambition. Jan 19, 2020 Full Review Zhuo-Ning Su Awards Daily What it lacks in discipline it makes up for with a whole lot of feelings. Pure, deep, preciously undefined feelings. Oct 17, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (6) audience reviews
Audience Member Leto is a beautiful homage to the legacy of Viktor Tsoi and his early upbringing as the king of rock, a voice of a generation that never faded. The films direction was a little questionable but for me it was more like fan service, being able to hear some of Tsoi's earliest works before he went mainstream was beautiful. Truly a fantastic film. Tsoi lives!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/11/25 Full Review Audience Member Leto (Summer) is a 2018 musical film directed by Kirill Serebrennikov that depicts the Leningrad underground rock scene of the early 1980s. The film draws loosely from the lives of the Soviet rock musicians Viktor Tsoi and Mike Naumenko. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Cannes Soundtrack Award. Leto also won the Best Production Designer at the 2018 European Film Awards. The film's musical interludes include performances by Viktor Tsoi, Iggy Pop and others. The film also features a great soundtrack that includes Bowie and T-Rex. 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 person alien to rock culture and knowing nothing about it." Music critic Artemy Troitsky agreed that the script "causes great doubts," but urged people to wait for the finished film. Vision wrote, "if you like "Russian Rock," then you'll like this film. A mix between A Hard Day's Night (1964), The Doors (1991) and Lords of Dogtown (2005) wrapped up in Russian pop. A good watch. A love story set against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in Russian culture. The film is more than a biopic, as it also explores escapism and the spirit of communal life in the 1980s. It captures the spirit of the Soviet rock scene in the 1980s. The film's musical interludes are a highlight." Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/25 Full Review Rilke C Summer,Viktor Tsoi,The Garin Death Ray,beaches,naked swimming,live concert and after party in apartment, jump through the wall Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/06/23 Full Review dave d 'Leto', or 'Summer' depending on your translation is more like a spring day that gets hit by a thunderstorm. It's fun, at its best, and boisterous, but in the end it just doesn't add up to much. The musical numbers are fine, some are better than others, but why are we supposed to just forget what happened, isn't that essentially what a musical is to begin with. You have to leave reality a little, but to be beaten over the head about it took me out of the film. It's an ambitious project no doubt and one I have great admiration for, it just didn't work for me. Final Score: 5.0/10 Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member While not a true biopic, it captures a youthful vibe and innocence of kids trying to create and define music and art in Soviet era Russia. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Max K Brilliant musical reflecting the general mood of desperation of the 80s' creative youth in the Soviet Union. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/15/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Leto

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Movie Info

Synopsis A love triangle emerges around a rock 'n' roll musician, his protege, and his wife in 1980s Russia.
Director
Kirill Serebrennikov
Producer
Ilya Stewart, Mourad Osmann, Pavel Burya, Mikhaïl Finoguenov
Screenwriter
Mikhail Idov, Lili Idova, Kirill Serebrennikov, Natalya Naumenko
Distributor
Gunpowder & Sky
Production Co
Hype Film, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), KinoVista
Genre
Biography, Drama, Music
Original Language
Russian
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 7, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 30, 2019
Runtime
2h 6m
Sound Mix
Dolby
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)