Leto movie review & film summary (2019)
Tsoi (Teo Yoo in the movie) is an aspiring musician like many others in Leningrad. He and a friend seek out the leader of another band, Mayk Naumenko or Mike (Roma Zver) for short, for his advice. Mike gives out his words of wisdom freely once he spots that Viktor has something special in his music and poetic lyrics. Mike also notices the wandering eye of his wife, Natalia Naumenko (Irina Starshenbaum), who goes by Natasha. She connects quickly and effortlessly with the new kid in their entourage just as Mike is losing his handle on drinking.
What many of us would consider to be a biopic – a dramatic retelling of a famous person’s life – doesn’t neatly apply here. Yes, the characters are modeled after real people, maybe even a few real situations, but there’s also the necessary disclaimer at the end: “Any resemblance of fictional characters to real people is purely coincidental.” Throughout the movie, a character breaks the Fourth Wall to tell the audience many times that what we are seeing is not true. “This never happened.” “This did not happen. Nor will it.”
If that wasn’t strange enough, “Leto” includes other surrealistic flourishes like scrappy hand-drawn-style animation to visualize lyrics and having everyday civilians occasionally break out into song. At other times, the movie switches into what looks like Super8 footage of the bands goofing off in the woods or backstage, which changes the aspect ratio of the screen and allows for bursts of color to shine through the mostly black-and-white movie. None of these creative tangents are consistently used. They’re sprinkled throughout and sometimes feel cacophonous, the effects can feel alienating but they certainly don’t look boring. Vladislav Opelyants’ crisp black-and-white cinematography manages to look elegant yet often grungy in the Naumenkos’ dingy apartment and performance hall where officials force attendees to stay seated throughout the rock show.
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