An unsettling rising tension dominates the core of this impressive and hypnotic short film directed by Brady Corbet, one of his early experiments
behind cameras when he was still an actor - now fully committed as writer/director. "Protect You + Me." has a claustrophobic and opressive view of places and
elements as an anxious young man (Daniel London, amazing) has dinner with his mother (Patricia Conolly) in a restaurant. As conversation and
events unfold (related with a forgotten memory and also a recent work situation), his peace of mind gets disturbed as a mysterious guy observes him from afar.
Why is there someone watching him and his mother? Why everything seems to trigger him? Is there anything that can be done? Or he's just getting a little
paranoid?
Corbet doesn't answer much of our questions, but he allows plenty of plausible answers through some hints and the power of observation from viewers.
You can form a puzzle with the small fragments given in apparent simple situations and reach a definitive answer to the man's state of mind and why he slowly
loses control. The more it goes forward with its action, the more you have to remember its early minutes and figure a different response to what was shown and
considered just an exact action (the washing of hands); the small talk with the mom that leaves him uneasy
and other apparently small reactions. In my theory, he did something wrong, probably killed a person, and was watched by the mystery man.
Apart from trying to understand it, the short is more about feeling, observing and getting immersed in the scenario shown, and the style has a great
importance to it. As an actor, Brady Corbet was directed by names like Michael Haneke, Gregg Araki, Lars Von Trier and Ruben Ostlund, and all of those
filmmakers have their own unique style and view that are very appealing and fascinating, unlike Hollywood cinema. With masters like that it's obvious that
he learned a great deal about composing shots, pacing and rhythm, and how to leave audiences thinking hard about what they just saw. This one doesn't have
much to say and doesn't need to; it's more about inviting audiences to use the power of imagination, figure out for themselves what the story is about. With
that, you have something unusual but thrilling, great to watch. The young man's career as director only took off from here in a spectacular manner. 8/10.
