A film about garage punk in the early 80s in Russia, and if you think you needed anything else, you're wrong.

Apparently _Leto_ (or _Summer_ in English, as _Leto_ is the Russian word for that season) is a biopic, but it's probably better if you know nothing about the real story beforehand. Or afterwards. Fiction is better than reality, and not just in my love life.

Because the film _Leto_ is like your favourite album: there may be some strong parts and parts you like less, but it infects you with a feeling that stays with you the rest of the day, making everything a little better along the way. Yes, a song or two may make the record a little long in places but we are revelling in the mood the music creates and have nowhere else we need to be.

In a year where movies about music brought down the house, _Leto_ is especially a standout. This film (the Russian entry in official competition at Cannes 2018) could have been called _Siberian Rhapsody_ or _A звезда Is Born_ because it is the antithesis of those blockbusters.

Unlike _Bohemian Rhapsody_, _Leto_ has no Hollywood razzmatazz. It isn't playback, it's the real thing, honest and human and flawed and scratched and raw. There is no sheen covering the film like a marketing condom; what we experience when we watch the film isn't deadened or second-hand but direct and in our faces.

The movie also outshines _A Star is Born_ because it is all about the music all the time. While the storylines of both have similarities (_Leto_ analyses the relationship between an established underground rocker and the newcomer he takes under his wing), _Leto_ doesn't get lost in the third act to explore maudlin clichés but instead it keeps the beat like a heart up to the not-so-bitter end.

There are certainly some false notes in _Leto_. The love story is often jarringly mundane and the anecdotes from the real people's serve as a distraction to what their lives were really about. But while Leto may not be perfect, it is absolutely the best album you will see all year.

"The anti-establishment themes and love-conquers-all story beats inherent to the rock/pop biopic genre have been previously explored in Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991), Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous (2000) and Anton Corbijn’s Control (2007), but rarely with such heartfelt melancholy, pained romanticism and evocative rendering of time and place..."

Read the full review here: http://screen-space.squarespace.com/reviews/2018/11/14/leto-summer.html