Fantasia Film Festival 2026 – It’s hard to believe the old adage that money doesn’t buy happiness when capitalism kills people every day. Most of us live below the poverty line and are forced to make drastic choices to make ends meet. It often feels like we’re being punished for wanting to live an honest life when so many scammers and criminals become billionaires who then make it their life’s mission to uphold classism. This is why movies like Aitore Zholdaskali’s Sicko (Auru) are always a little too relatable and earn an extra level of bleakness as we laugh at the satire.
Zholdaskali’s film had its North American premiere at Fantasia Film Fest 2026. In a slate of filmmakers who understood the assignment when it comes to art being a political act, this one stands out. Not only is it a tragic comedy that understands humans are morally grey, but it’s also pretty wicked on all levels. Sicko introduces us to a poor couple not unlike many people we may know. Azamat (Ayan Utepbergen) and Tancho (Dilnaz Kurmangali) are married and drowning in debt. Azamat owes friends and family money to the point where he’s avoiding them, and there are threats of violence. Meanwhile, Tancho has just realized she is pregnant and faces the possibility of giving birth to a baby they cannot afford. Things are dire for this young couple when Azamat gets the idea to have Tancho fake stage-four cancer so they can launch a crowdfunding campaign.
Tancho is hesitant at first and serves as the more moral end of the spectrum of characters Sicko introduces us to. However, there are no other options on hand, and she agrees to what becomes a viral grift. As the campaign gains popularity, the couple finds themselves having to continue growing the lie. They also discover that with visibility and more money, new kinds of problems emerge. The money begins to change them and their relationship to each other. What started out as them trying to get out of squalor starts to reveal a monster of sorts in Azamat. Meanwhile, this new life doesn’t absolve them from the dangers of their old one that have followed them into this new chapter.
Sicko is a crime thriller from Kazakhstan, but unfortunately, it could be set almost anywhere. In America, we watch friends and family rely on internet strangers to afford life-saving procedures and medications all the time. Our healthcare system is fucked, and the 1% like to tell themselves that poverty is a moral failing. We all see these crowdfunds and basically trade off giving each other the same five dollars repeatedly- if we’re lucky enough to have it when it’s our turn. Too many people are constantly forced into desperate situations because greed and capitalism reign supreme in the United States. This is why Aza and Tancho start off as almost folk heroes in my mind. A much less violent Bonnie and Clyde, if you will. We get that they are doing a bad thing, but we also know what it’s like to barely be able to afford to live.
Watching them have to ride the chaotic rollercoaster fueled by their dishonest plan is fun. The commentary that people only care about you when they think you have an expiration date is also not lost on me. While the entire movie is intriguing and leaves you with a lot to chew on, it’s the moments where these characters realize they have crossed yet another line from which there is no coming back. The first lie is bad, but they could potentially find a way out of that someday. However, the next lie, and the one after, and the one after. Then the incident that leads to them committing crimes that are harder to cover up. Then the tension mounts, and Aza turns on his own partner as his drive to continue accumulating wealth finally outweighs his humanity. Once greed begins to rot his soul, it becomes obvious that money really is the root of all evil for him.
Utepbergen and Kurmangali are to clown and hit each of their character turns beautifully. The script written by Kazybek Orazbek and Aldiyar Zhaparkhanov gives both actors a very sinister playground to work with, and they seem to have fun. At least until things take a violent and stressful turn from which these characters can never return. Paired with Zholdaskali’s direction, this movie feels like the kind of satire most filmmakers strive for and fail. Sicko knows it’s a good time, and it also knows when to pull the rug out from underneath the audience and remind us we live in a world where nothing is free. There is a cost for everything, whether or not we want to pay it doesn’t matter. The film doesn’t believe in heroes and villains as it sets its sights on the system that breaks and bends us. Society marking the poor as inhuman sometimes forces people to become unrecognizable versions of themselves. Especially once they realize the ladder to wealth is only climbed by people willing to become monsters.
Sicko is very much an unexpected, beautiful, and twisted little gem. There are so many cool shots capturing the journey from one unforgivable deed to the next. The use of darkness and color in the compositions fights for attention as you buckle in for this unique little ride. The tension in the gritty violent scenes forces you to sit up in your seat. There are so many technical elements working for this movie that it might be worth a rewatch just to catch more of them amid the chaotic brilliance. This is one of those delightful times where everyone understands the assignment, which makes it hard to catch all of the art being thrown at you.
Much like South Korea’s Parasite, directed by Bong Joon Ho, Sicko is painfully aware of society’s ills regarding classicism. It also isn’t interested in painting a narrative with an unearned happy ending. The film goes balls to the wall and fires on all cylinders. Whether it’s the dark comedy it pretends to be in the beginning or the tense high-stakes thriller it becomes, it’s a ride worth taking.
