Leto (2018)

Leto: Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov. With Roman Bilyk, Irina Starshenbaum, Teo Yoo, Filipp Avdeev. A love triangle emerges around a rock and roll musician, his protege and his wife in 1980s Russia.

“Leto is one of these rare movies that know how to talk to your heart, to open it up and awaken all the dreams you ever thought of. Leto is a little jewel, the one in which resides such powerful, impacting strength but also a beauty that you can only admire.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie puts us in the underground rock scene of late Soviet Union. It sets itself in a climate where change is asked but also felt, the times of the Perestroika. But yet control over culture is really strong. The way youth wants to express itself, by the music they listen to and make (music inspired in many occidental rock groups) is only limited to abandoned warehouses where access is restricted, under control of the regimeu0026#39;s police.nThis creative climate is always contained, but never feels oppressive for the viewer nor for the characters that actually act with great liberty. And this is particularly thanks to Serebrennikovu0026#39;s directing. He uses all cinemau0026#39;s artifices, pushes the limits of staging to create his own universe. The black and white creates an atmosphere of such simplicity, yet full of possibilities. The adopted view expresses how all the characters and all the legends that forged this period were great dreamers at core.nThey had dreams, they dream all along, they tried to transmit their dreams in the frame that was imposed to them. They created a new vision, a new world. The power of youth for change is one of the great motors of this movie. But the real beauty is that the movie never falls in a pamphletarian tone, it always stays with this optimist vision that awakens the dreamer in each one of us, and encourages everyone to pursue their dreams.nAlthough itu0026#39;s dealing with past, Serebrennikovu0026#39;s tale is still really relevant in our time, where we all absolutely need to dream and need to fulfill our dreams to escape this anxiogenous climate that reigns in our society. The movie warms your heart, gives you power and energy for change -whatever type of change it is- and thatu0026#39;s where resides all the greatness of the movie; it is a source of light that will reheat your heart, and give you hope.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThatu0026#39;s why I am still scandalized that it didnu0026#39;t win a single prize in Cannes when it is one of the movies that was really worth winning a distinction. It would of been the occasion of giving a great impulse to this creative, crazy and ambitious cinema, that throws traditional codes away and finally dares to brake rules ! It would of been the occasion to recognize the talent and vision of Serebrennikov that is, we all know, put at risk by elements that he cannot control.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo go, run to watch this hymn to youth, revolution, change, beauty and dream !”