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Film: I Saw the TV Glow
Year: 2024
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Writer: Jane Schoenbrun
Starring: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine and Ian Foreman
Review:
This is a movie that I heard buzz about from festivals. I know a couple podcasts brought it up and this one went on my list of movies to see to form my ‘Best Of’ end of year list. What also intrigued me is that the ratings for this have it on the lower end of Letterboxd’s Top 250 horror movies as well. That’s impressive for at the time it was only at festivals. I tried to temper expectations, but I caught this opening night at the Gateway Film Center. I’ve also given it a second watch to see how well it held up.
Synopsis: two teenagers’ bond over their love of a supernatural TV show, but it is mysteriously cancelled.
I’ll first look at the younger of the two teens from the synopsis. This starts back in 1996. That would be Owen (Ian Foreman). We first get to meet him on election night where the polling station is at their local junior high school. His mother, Brenda (Danielle Deadwyler), takes him into the booth with her. She hangs out afterwards to talk to other adults while Owen approaches Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine). Owen asks if her parents are voting. They aren’t but she tells him that she is allowed to use the black room after school hours. She’s reading an episode guide about her favorite show, The Pink Opaque. Owen has heard about it, but his bedtime is before it starts. What Maddy tells him drives his want to watch it.
As kids will do, Maddy gives him an idea to say he’s going to stay at a friend’s house. He hasn’t talked to this other child in years. Owen then sneaks off to Maddy’s house, where she has a friend over to watch this show, Amanda (Emma Portner). This changes his life. He doesn’t sneak off again, but Maddy leaves recorded VHS tapes of the show for him to take home.
Things progress through the years as Owen grows to be played by Justice Smith. He is now in high school and Maddy is closer to graduation. Owen still has an early bedtime, but he sneaks off again to watch the show with Maddy since Amanda has abandoned her. This night, we see how depressed this young woman is. She tells Owen that she is going to run away and that he should join her. The stress of this causes him to come clean through his friend’s mother. It is then years before he sees Maddy again and when he does, his memories of their favorite show and what happened to her messes with the fabric of their existence.
Now this is a hard movie to condense into a synopsis without going into spoilers. Ahead of seeing this, a voice in the horror community that I respect warned people that the trailer shows a different movie than what we got. I’ll be honest, it was close to the start of the third act that I wondered if this was going to be a horror movie. By the end though, I do think it goes there. This is a great companion piece with writer/director Schoenbrun’s first film, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. They tackle similar ideas and concepts in a surreal way.
Where I want to go from there is delving more into what we’re getting here. To correlate it with the first film by this Schoenbrun a bit more, they are focusing on two characters who aren’t popular. I almost got the idea that Owen might be autistic. There is something about how he reacts to things and how his parents treat him that make me think how he processes information is different from others. Then Maddy is a lesbian. Being in the mid-1990s to start this, it wasn’t as acceptable, especially at the age that she is in society. It doesn’t help that her best friend Amanda tried out for the cheerleading team and then accused Maddy of trying to touch her breast. Maddy is hurt by what happened and that rejection adds to it. Her home life isn’t great either. That is something to do with Owen as well. Brenda loves him, but she has cancer. His father and him do not seem to connect in the limited basis we see. He is Frank and played by Fred Durst. The only thing we hear him ask is if the Pink Opaque is a show for girls. There’s also a creepy scene where he stares at Owen with the glow of TV making things eerie.
I then want to go over to something that I could connect with growing up. I’ll say that in junior high, I wasn’t popular. Now at my high school, it was easy to acclimate back into the accepted groups because I played sports. I still had my hobbies that I kept hidden from my friends due to being afraid of getting mocked. Maddy and Owen are in love with this show. There’s nothing wrong there. The problem though becomes Maddy cannot separate herself from what she sees, sinking into madness. She wants Owen to be a part of that. He cannot commit and it sends him into a panic. What I think we’re getting here is showing mental health and how fragile it can be, especially for people that don’t fit in. This was uncomfortable to watch, but it also kept me glued.
Now there’s another aspect here that I wanted to delve into, which is the idea of interests we have and how they don’t always hold up. Owen decides to grow up during the third act. We see how he feels like he’s dying inside. There is something he said during his teen years about how he feels different as well. This made me wonder if he was asexual with the conversation with Maddy. There is a scene later that made me think of Owen’s inner child. We also see Owen’s reaction to watching the Pink Opaque as an adult. I’m not going into more detail than that, but I love the point that is being made here.
There is another aspect here. I believe that our writer/director is non-binary. I get the idea that this is a personal tale or elements of that story woven in. We see two people who don’t understand how they’re feeling, finding someone to connect with and then when that falls apart, losing themselves. This was an aspect that I enjoyed and it made me appreciate this more on a second watch.
What makes this work though is the acting. Foreman is good as the younger Owen and I love the take that Smith gives us. This older version carries the burden but plays well off the stage set. We see him from these more formidable years and with makeup, we see the adult version as well. Seeing the stress that is caused to Owen by those around him is something that I understand. Also, being an adult is hard and this shows that. Lundy-Paine also has a great performance. She hates her home life and wants to get out. There is mental illness here with her delusions and what she wants Owen to do. What is great here is that this movie is surreal so it blurs the lines of reality. With how convinced Maddy is, it made me wonder if there was something supernatural happening here. That is a credit to the filmmaking. Other than that, I thought the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed in helping push our leads to where they end up.
Since I’ve already moved into filmmaking, I’ll finish that out. The cinematography, framing and editing are great. The world that this takes place feels real. We are seeing it through the eyes of Owen so I love that we’re warping reality slightly. This is how he sees what he’s experiencing. Age and life experiences are playing in. That makes the tone of this work so well for me. This also doesn’t necessarily give a definite answer to things so those that look at the supernatural things happening as real can see it that way. There’s also this idea that it is mental illness messing with what the characters are experiencing so it could just delusions. I fall into the latter camp, but I like how an argument can be made either way. This is a trippy movie. There is CGI there, but since it might not be real, it works. The soundtrack also helps to build that atmosphere that it needs.
In conclusion, this is a movie that I needed to sleep on before getting my thoughts down. I knew that leaving the theater, I liked it. I wasn’t ready to make determinations immediately. What I’ll say is that Schoenbrun has an interesting style in both films she’s done. They’re not traditional horror, but they make you think. That’s something I appreciate. The acting here from Smith and Lundy-Paine carry this. The rest of the cast push them to where they end up. This is well-made. I love the uncomfortable feeling from the atmosphere so crediting the cinematography, framing, effects and soundtrack. This will be divisive like the director’s earlier movie. If you enjoyed that one, I think you’ll dig this. What we’re getting is arthouse and surreal, so keep that in mind before seeing this.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10