A writer creates while under the pressure to be able to sell his story to an ever-changing market.
Directed by Amanbek Azhymat, Backstage Madness is a definitely-dark comedy that approaches something all creatives wanting to have a career in their field of choice face: The need to succeed to be able to continue to work while trying to maintain their style and feed the monster that is the current market. This is something that has been discussed a lot online from every corner of the world and the film takes this idea and turns into a funny, oftentimes messy, process where the story is more “in progress” for the lead who is writing it than it is finished as he keeps changing his genre and his characters. This does lead to a few moments of “wait, uh?” for the viewer as the story takes sharp turns at times and parts seem to be missing. As such, it makes for a film that can lose the attention, but it also represents the writing process quite well for many writers.
The cast here is fun; everyone commits to their parts and the bit. The festival has a bunch of names listed on its site but not which part they play, so this is another case of can’t attribute the work to the actors properly so this will be vague. The actor who plays the writer is great here, he’s the one who directs the characters in a way, and he makes the most of his screen time. The actor who plays the “hire a friend” character is a lot of fun, and he fully commits to whatever happens to him. The rest of the cast is good, all going along with all that is happening to them and around them.
The film going back and forth between the writer’s world and the world he creates means there needs to be a difference to see this clearly. The film has some of this, mostly in setting as the writer mostly is found at a table, actively working, but when he is out of that room, it can take a few moments longer. The look of the film is good, but the difference between one world and the other is not clear enough at times.
Backstage Madness is another fun, at times nonsensical, dark comedy, and it works. It has a few issues here and there, but it’s entertaining, it’s funny, the stunts are good, there is plenty here for everyone to find something they love.
Fantasia 2026 runs from July 16th to August 2nd, 2026