Exploring the often blurred lines between our online personas and who we really are, here is our review of writer and director Babatdor Dkhar’s short film ‘Between I and Me’.
“Between I and Me,” is a 7-minute short film that shows the isolating effects of internet addiction, directed by Babatdor Dkhar and made by an Indian cast and crew this short film which is set for the most part in just one single room with one single shot, captures how easily we can lose ourselves, our identities and our sense of real life while we are spending all our time looking for validation online.
Tamanna R. Sawkmie plays a young girl who starts by innocently using her phone. But her performance quickly shows how this casual use turns into a real addiction. The room, with its simple brown couch and white wall, becomes her digital prison. A colourful throw with a Noah’s Ark design adds a layer of mystery. It makes us wonder if it represents a lost, simpler time, or the overwhelming amount of information she faces, or if it was just forgotten about before filming began and not moved out of shot.
As director Dkhar uses the small space well, he gives us some brief moments of Sawkmie as the girl talking outside on her phone on the balcony or pacing the room, yet she always returns to her couch with her head buried deep inside her phone. The couch can have many meanings I saw it more as a potential safe space for the girl explaining why she always returns. But it also told me how trapped she may be feeling in the digital world she has created for herself.
Throughout the short film there are title cards, possibly like text messages or social media posts, that appear. They give us clues about her thoughts and the pressure she feels. They also allude to the political upheavals of the day and all this emphasises the stark contrast between the real world and the shallow social media world many addicted personalities are obsessed with. These cards could be notifications, likes, or the fake perfection of social media. The fact that we don’t know exactly what they are, highlights how blurred our online and offline lives have become.
The script allows for our protagonist to take constant selfies and change clothes pointing more towards her vanity and self-absorption. Is she trying to create a perfect online image, showing the gap between who she is online and who she actually is, or is she just trying to escape from the real world?
“Between I and Me” doesn’t tell us what to think. The film just allows us to watch as the girl becomes more and more isolated, highly strung, and panicky. This makes us think about how common internet addiction is today with the film’s short length helping to make this message even stronger.
The simple setting, with its white wall and the girl’s colourful outfits, emphasizes her emotional journey. The contrast highlights the tension between her inner feelings and how she presents herself to everyone else.
Ultimately, “Between I and Me” is a very relevant film. A film of its time, Dkhar has created a story about the cost of too much screen time. The film reminds us that we need to balance our online and offline lives, and no matter how many internet rabbit holes we get lost in, we have to remember the importance of real human connection.
Leave a Reply