Fantasia Festival 2025: ‘Burning’ causes a horrifying blaze

Perception is everything. What you see is not always the truth. Scriptwriters Aizada Amangeldy and Dastan Madalbekov tinker with perspective in astonishing ways with Burning, playing this year’s Fantasia Festival. In his very capable hands, director Radik Eshimov takes the material and squashes it in his knuckles. Cut into three chapters, each layer flakes off like decades-old paint to reveal an even darker reality souring below the surface. The film uses cliches as a driving force behind the real horror, confusing the viewer as the story unravels. In doing so, it conceals one helluva surprise in the third act.

A group of villagers gathers in a convenience store. A nearby family’s home just went up in flames, causing gossip to spread about what really happened. Three separate stories are told, rehashing a series of unfortunate events that lead to that night. One person believes it’s the mother-in-law’s fault; another sees the wife as the culprit; and the third thinks the husband is to blame. As the details shift, the viewer gets a glimpse into the life of Asel (Aysanat Edigeeva) and her husband Marat (Ömürbek Izrailov) when they’re visited by Marat’s mother Farida (Kalicha Seydalieva). Things are immediately off about the tight-knit family, but the reality is no one truly knows what goes on behind closed doors.

The core cast – Edigeeva, Izrailov, and Seydalieva – deliver three of the finest performances of the entire year. As the story evolves, so do their interpretations of the work. They dig their teeth into their characters’ motivations, desires, and wants in ways that’ll knock you off your feet. Burning is a shocking tale about the worst in humanity and how so often people will look the other way when something doesn’t concern them.

The perspective changes give Eshimov room to play behind the camera. His cinematic choices coincide with the story’s action, punctuating various story beats in drastically different ways. It’s a grueling exercise that heightens the sense of urgency and never gives the audience a chance to breathe. They can only experience the story and put the puzzle pieces together.

Burning is the biggest surprise out of the 19 films I watched this year out of the festival. It’s a relentless tour de force in the third act, as the truth is exposed and you’re left with your mouth agape. The generic poster art deceives the audience into believing one thing, and when the rug is yanked from under your feet, you’ll find yourself on the floor. It’s a devastating journey that leaves an indelible impact right up to the very final frame.