LETO
Accused of misappropriation of public funds, Kirill Serebrennikov, an assiduous critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime, has been under house arrest since August 2010. Despite this physical and legal constraint, the Russian filmmaker and theater director managed to finish his latest film, LETO, a musical shot in black and white that tackles the convulsive new-wave scene of the 1980’s in Leningrad, and which explores an era of oppression in the former Soviet Union. The film revolves around local underground rockers Viktor Tsoy and Mike Naumenko just at the time in which they met, and a troublesome love triangle with Natasha, the wife of the latter, begins. Based on the memories of Natasha, Serebrennikov explores the Russian counterculture of the 1980’s with a true touch of naivety and nostalgic romanticism, tinted with the daily personal frustrations of his bohemian characters. This ordinary contrast with some narrative tangent, that in a music video format, reinterprets iconic pop-rock songs like Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” or Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”, function as a westernized catharsis for these oppressed characters, individuals without the possibility of experimenting freedom except in the imaginary of artistic creation. (Pedro Segura Bernal)
KIRILL SEREBRENNIKOV
RUS/F, 2018
FEATURES, 126MIN, OMEU