I Saw the TV Glow

Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow examines themes of obsessive fandom, despondency, isolation, familial dysfunction, and dysphoria all through social outcasts Owen (Ian Foreman and later Justice Smith) and the slightly older Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) who bond over a late-night teen horror show called The Pink Opaque. 

The film was written as a allegory that came out of Schoenbrun's own gender transitioning and explores the realization of a disconnect between themselves and the world and the terror of embracing change. In Maddy, who introduces the young Owen to the show, we get a character who already has made certain discoveries who sees a kindred spirit in Owen struggling with the same self-doubts. The show works as a shorthand between them, with both a bit too fixated on The Pink Opaque and using it to question reality around them and ultimately coming to different conclusions as each approaches a precipice.

While a critical success, the film has met with a mixed audience response with some finding profound personal meaning in the tale bringing them to tears and others struggling to understand its point. I don't think A24's decision to market the film as horror rather than psychological drama or even a coming of age film did it any favors.

While the movie can be viewed without, or in ignorance of, the allegorical themes, knowledge the transition allegory is likely to add more meaning and context to the story. One of the most common complaints I saw online was simply "I don't get it." However, as simply a story of a pair of unwanted loners, struggling through maturity and adolescence finding common ground in the odd show obviously modeled after (a far cheaper version) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it provides plenty of insight in how shows like this can bring people of any stripe together to use it to try and better understand, or simply get through, their own troubled lives.

Made on a modest budget, the film looks quite good, and if the effects of The Pink Opaque certainly suffer that too plays into themes of Owen attempting to reconnect with it years later long after his last encounter with Maddy. Time plays an important role in the film's final act as the weight of decisions will be measured and the ideas of youth questioned. Given the mixed audience response, the film certainly isn't for everyone, but it is an unique attempt to explore themes subtly without forcing them to be too overt or overbearing. I believe Schoenbrun ultimately succeeds in that goal, with an undeniably atmospheric film featuring strong performances all-around, but I could understand those who may disagree.

Watch the trailer

• Title: I Saw the TV Glow
• IMDb: link