Leto
Short description
Leto takes place in Leningrad in the summer of 1981, where underground rock music circulates on smuggled records by Western artists and the scene is gathering momentum. Mike Naumenko, a musician, and his wife Natalya meet the young Viktor Tsoi. Mike takes Viktor under his wing and introduces him to the circle of performers around him, while an emotional bond develops between Viktor and Natalya that complicates the relationship between the two men. The film follows the beginnings of Viktor Tsoi and the band Kino, along with the wider rock movement of the era, rather than presenting itself as a straightforward biography.
Kirill Serebrennikov directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Mikhail Idov and Lily Idov. The film sits second in the chronological list of his features, after Betrayal and before Petrov's Flu. Teo Yoo plays Viktor Tsoi, Roman Bilyk plays Mayk Naumenko, Irina Starshenbaum plays Natalya Naumenko, and Philip Avdeev, Aleksandr Gorchilin and Yuliya Aug appear among a credited cast of 42.
At 126 minutes, Leto is a Russian-French production. It holds a rating of 7.3 on IMDb from around 8,500 votes and 7.4 on TMDB from a much smaller base of 352 votes, while its critics' rating stands at 7.2 from 59 reviews, placing the two audience scores and the critical score close together.
What's left behind the scenes
- When meeting Viktor, Maryana writes her phone number – 212-85-06 – on his hand. This is the title of a song by the band 'Aquarium' from the album 'Children of December' (1986).
- Scenes with the Leningrad Rock Club were filmed in Kronstadt, in a practically ruined house of culture.
- In the film, Viktor Tsoi speaks with the voice of Denis Klyaver, and sings with the voice of Pyotr Pogodaev.
- In preparing for the role of Theo, Yoo not only learned the language and listened to songs by "Kino," but also lived in a communal apartment in St. Petersburg, eating authentic 1980s food – sausages and boiled eggs.
- The communal apartment where Mike and Natalia lived was found on Kirochnaya Street, furnished with items from Avito and the stalls at the Udelnaya flea market.
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