★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Max Neace
This 1990s riff on Hitchcock’s Rear Window is a lot of fun, complete with paranoia, mystery, and a sentient office chair.
Writer/director Max Neace’s Shift (U.S., 2024) goes beyond asking “Who’s watching the watchers?” territory as newly hired night watchman Tom (Connor McGill) finds himself wondering if he has stumbled on a possible murder case in the storage unit business where he works. Neace invests his 1998-set mystery thriller with a neo-noir vibe and a nice dollop of humor.
Tom’s boss, Hal (Sean O’Bryan), advises him to just take it easy and not get involved with spying on customers at Your Storage. Still, Tom has a bit of L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries in him (That’s James Stewart’s character in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, for those unaware). When the comely Mrs. Jones (Allison McAtee) seems to not only be bringing her paramours to the storage facility but causing them to never leave the place, Tom’s curiosity is too much for him to bear.
Neace lets viewers know up front that Shift is a quirky take on Rear Window, as the office chair shared by Tom and Hal is a sentient one named Grace Kelly. Whereas the Hitchcock classic used an apartment building for its setting, here Neace widens the scope of observation by using security cameras that can see every corner of the facility — well, almost. The film may be set in 1998 Chicago, but the ramifications of us being the unknowing subjects of voyeurism virtually anywhere and anytime translate greatly to modern society.
With highly engaging performances by its three leads, along with solid turns from its supporting players and Neace’s fine job at the helm combining marvelous building of suspense with offbeat humor, Shift is an engaging, entertaining feature that deserves to find a wide audience.
Review by Joseph Perry
Shift screened at Nevermore Film Festival, which was held February 23–25, 2024, in Durham, North Carolina. It will also screen at Cinequest, which runs March 7–17, 2024 in San Jose, California.
