Mike (Biorkys Acosta) has found himself wrapped up with the wrong people–commiting crimes and putting himself in harm’s way. However, he’s a smart young man with a lot of potential–especially when it comes to fashion design. Behind the Scenes of what his friends and cohorts believe him to be lies a secret, one that has the potential to cause him a lot of suffering. While Mike wants to do his best in life, and find his way toward the straight and narrow–his actions, and his secret, will pose a series of problems for him.
Behind the Scenes is full of characters that remind me of former students of mine that try to be something they aren’t. They are overly homophobic, racist, sexist, and worse–but at their cores they are soft, simple–even relatable. What Behind the Scenes does really well is create characters that appear one way, but are full of emotion and relevant struggles that viewers are able to appreciate–particularly Mike. He’s the star of the show, and he’s the most relatable character on screen, constantly reminding viewers never to judge a book by its cover and that it’s what’s on the inside that matters. I believe that Acosta is a real up-and-comer that has the potential to find success in leading roles in the future.
What Behind the Scenes struggles with is developing a cohesive story. The film jumps around a lot, making it semi-difficult to follow. One of my biggest pet peeves in film is when a film tries to go too many places and force too many things into one story. It’s alright to exist on a smaller scale, taking place in one (or just a couple of locations), and it’s okay not to attempt to create too much depth, so much that it confuses viewers. Behind the Scenes falls victim to trying to do too much, and as Mike moves from place to place, adding layer after layer to his character and his story, viewers get lost.
With the film constantly moving around it also becomes difficult to understand secondary and tertiary characters’ motives. Some of the things that occur on screen simply don’t make sense because it’s impossible to get in the head of the characters sitting in front of us. Behind the Scenes, once again, tries to be too deep, and so much is lost in the process.
Behind the Scenes does a wonderful job of creating two incredibly likable characters, Mike and Mr. Brown (Dan Berkey). The two work well together, and had the film focused more on this relationship, or even simply had Mike develop more at his place of employment, I think that it would have found more success. Berkey isn’t given enough screen time (even though his time on screen is effective), and Mike is forced to roam the dangerous streets with some seemingly pointless other characters. There’s too much going on, and Mike and Mr. Brown should have remained the only source of emotion throughout the course of Behind the Scenes. In a convoluted story, too much falls by the wayside, too much is misunderstood, and not enough emotion makes its way to the surface.
Written & Directed by Artur Nigmatullin.
Starring Biorkys Acosta, Jymil Littles, Ayomide Adeloye, Dan Berkey, Ruben Rosado, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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