Kai Luke Brümmer makes a guarded character worth our attention without forcing him to explain himself. We rate the restraint of his work in Moffie, though the film’s storytelling is less dependable.
Fi1m perspective
In Moffie (2020), Kai Luke Brümmer makes the effort of keeping quiet visible. His Nicholas Van der Swart is a young gay conscript who must remain alert to the men around him, and Brümmer gives that caution a physical presence without constantly signalling what we should feel. We found the homophobic bullying hard to bear because his reserve offers so little release from the strain. Even the friendships require care, which makes their small measure of relief matter.
After that breakthrough, supporting roles in The Kissing Booth 2 (2020) and Eraser: Reborn (2022) extended his screen work. The more interesting turn for us is his return to Nicholas in the one-man stage adaptation of Moffie (2024), directed by Greg Karvellas. Shifting between characters and changing his voice asked something different of him from the film’s guarded stillness. That return gives us reason to look beyond the quiet young man, without pretending we have already seen everything he can do.
Brümmer has described his approach plainly: “I think so much of acting is observing and listening, and so it was a huge privilege to speak as little as I did.” In Oliver Hermanus’s film, that listening makes Nicholas’s reserve active; he has to judge the men around him before allowing himself to respond. We can understand his vulnerability without the performance becoming a succession of clues. Hermanus gets an actor willing to let the pressure of a scene remain uncomfortable, rather than providing a display of emotion to ease it.
The limit in Moffie is the storytelling, which becomes less sure as the film goes on. That does not undo the performance, but it does qualify our recommendation of the film. We would like to see a director give his attentiveness room for pleasure or humour, without losing the patience that makes Nicholas convincing. Start with Moffie, and do not expect a restful evening.
Biography
Kai Luke Brümmer is a South African actor. He trained at the University of Cape Town, graduating in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Performance with a distinction in acting. He attended St John's College in Johannesburg.
Brümmer is known for his role as Nicholas van der Swart in the film Moffie (2019), which premiered at the 76th Venice Film Festival. He later reprised the role in a stage adaptation that ran at Riverside Studios in London. His other screen credits include The Kissing Booth 2 (2020), Eraser: Reborn (2022) and the series Professionals (2020–2022).
On stage he has appeared in productions including The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, for which he won a Naledi Award for Best Lead Performance in a Play, and Athol Fugard's Master Harold... and the Boys. He resides in London.
