VERDICT: The beguiling Night Shift follows two individuals as they meander around venerated institutions after dark, crafting an entrancing portrait of liminal existences.
Kayije Kagame and Hugo Radi’s Night Shift is a quietly enthralling inhabitation of eerily marginal spaces.
Set backstage La Comédie Française in Paris and after hours at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle in Geneva, the film follows two individuals as they navigate the fringes of these establishments. On one hand, an actor (Gaël Kamilindi) prowls behind the scenes at the theatre, waiting – perhaps – for an opportunity to take centre stage. On the other, a female security guard (Kagame) does her rounds at the natural history museum, which seems to take on a life of its own beyond the gaze of its daytime visitors. Without a word of dialogue, these two very different experiences of space diverge and coalesce in a seductive ballet.
Filmmakers Kagame and Radi have worked together before. The former, who will be a familiar presence to some audiences, having been roundly lauded for her performance in Alice Diop’s Saint Omer (2022), appeared in Radi’s 2022 short, Initial. Radi was also one of several collaborators on Kagame’s 2022 performance piece – also called Night Shift – at the Fondation Cartier in Paris. That work serves as a clear blueprint for the second section of the film, in which Kagame wanders the nocturnal avenues of a museum. The building may be unoccupied by other people, but it is by turns flooded by the hum of rainforest life and filled with music, the sway of which Kagame’s guard is powerless to resist. Kamilindi’s part is somewhat different, the camera observing as he practices lines, but ultimately sits in a long red dress and heels while watching a performance on a computer screen. It is left unclear as to whether he is preparing to go on stage, or – as a queer, non-white performer – being tantalisingly kept from it.
All of this is captured in beautiful compositions by cinematographer Augustin Losserand, who shot the film on 16mm. The texture of the images and the framing of the characters accentuate the physicality of these two people in their respective spaces. Whether it is Kamilindi sitting in baroque surroundings, all dolled up with nowhere to go, or Kagame’s absolutely captivating dance sequence, the two feel tethered in different ways to these places. The film opens with a short text about the ‘ghost lamp’ that remains lit in theatres, in the darkness between performances; Night Shift presents two individuals who seem to both embody and experience hauntings in different ways and impeccably transmits some of that allure and disquiet to the audience.
Director, screenplay: Kayije Kagame, Hugo Radi
Cast: Gaël Kamilindi, Kayije Kagame, Damiaan de Schrijver
Producer: Kayije Kagame
Cinematography: Augustin Losserand
Editing: Gabriel Gonzalez
Sound: Léo Couture
Sound editing: Imanol Pittaluga
Sound mixing: Adrien Kessler
Costume design: Salomé Poloudenny
Production company: Cie Victor (Switzerland)
Venue: Locarno Film Festival (Pardi di domani: Concorso internazionale)
No dialogue
24 minutes
