Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Roman Bilyk | ... | Mike (as Roma Zver) |
Irina Starshenbaum | ... | Natasha | |
Teo Yoo | ... | Viktor | |
Filipp Avdeev | ... | Lenya | |
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Evgeniy Serzin | ... | Oleg |
Aleksandr Gorchilin | ... | Punk | |
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Vasiliy Mikhaylov | ... | Isha |
Aleksandr Kuznetsov | ... | Skeptic | |
Nikita Efremov | ... | Bob | |
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German Osipov | ... | Guitarist |
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Dmitry Zhuk | ... | Bassist |
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Valentin Tarasov | ... | Drummer |
Semyon Serzin | ... | Mikhailov | |
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Irina Tepliukhova | ... | Ira |
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Marina Manych | ... | Marina |
A love triangle emerges around a rock and roll musician, his protege and his wife in 1980s Russia.
Leto is to me the best film of 2018 as its direction is so original, unique and magnificient. The story is rather simple. A confirmed rock star of the early eighties (Mayk) struggles to promote rock music in the declining Sovietic Union when another musician (Viktor Tsoi) arises as a new promising talent. His wife, Natalia can't help to be attracted to this new talent...and so does he. This film almost has it all. It features fantastic actors, an interesting story (who would not like to know what was being a rock star in the Soviet Union in the 80's ?), a great soundtrack, and some developments in the film you do not expect. I would definitely take on the direction of this film as its main feature, as Serebrennikov films so well, invents moments of magic, and has so much inventions that you can feel the soul of rock. Quite early in the film, you understand the movie is not just all about following the emergence of Viktor Tsoi the Kurt Cobain of Russia (or the Jim Morisson of Russia back in those days), but also about giving pride of place to the ideal of rock. Serebrennikov pays tribute to what rock and roll meant for his generation, what it inspired and what it felt to listen to this music in this oppressive atmosphere of Russia in the 80's. I believe that many many directors tried this before him, but Serebrennikov may be the only one to have succeeded in this initiative of linking music to political protest. The long take at the beach and several musica clips are simply fantastic ! For this and for his fantastic direction, the film has already become a must-see film to me.