Sheltered: The Latest Flare-up of Generational Crisis

The path of Daniel Jamal Judson’s Sheltered is predetermined, perhaps with the addendum, under constant conditions. The conditions do remain unchanged as its protagonist hurtles towards his unintended destination like an unstoppable force. There is no immovable object here to provide conflict. 

Sheltered is the story of and by Caleb (Tim Johnson), a homeschooled teen who volunteers at the local homeless shelter and keeps a gun in his drawer (right underneath his Jesus mousepad). His delusions are the star of the story, delivered in a mumbling monotone that establishes character as well as the dialogues themselves. The contrast between Caleb’s position as the narrator of his story and his complete lack of likeability is perhaps the best summation of the film. 

Camerawork replicates Caleb’s tendency to fixate on objects with a slow, trance-like intensity through creeping zooms-in and fragmented framing. The latest object of his delusions is a teenage girl at the shelter, Sheena (Olivia Hawthorne) with whom he has shared less than five sentences, and on whom he now transfers his obsession. Sheena is an idea, the ideal vessel upon which to bestow the burden of his desire to be a saviour. Johnson and Hawthorne make an excellent non-pair, emphasising Caleb’s disturbing nature through Sheena’s delicateness. Hawthorne has few lines overall, a reflection of just how distant the character is from personhood in Caleb’s eyes. Mere minutes convince him that she is being trafficked by liberal elites; when his paranoid vision of Sheena being sacrificed melds into an orgasmic fantasy, there is little doubt what the idea of saving Sheena means to Caleb. Sex is in fact the strong undercurrent of the film. Sound design latches onto Caleb’s neuroses and turns masturbation into an unbearable soundscape, escape from which once again pushes Caleb towards the climax of his misplaced desire to be the valiant (and virile) hero. 

Sheltered carries the influence of Fight Club, from its deluded narrator-protagonist to his need for sexual and masculine glory, and sometimes, its visual style. Their political roots, however, are adjacent but not the same. To compare the protagonists’ fates—one understandably more interesting than the other—would be spoiling the messy, embarrassing, and all-around defeat of everyone involved.  

Watch Sheltered Short Film Trailer