Directed by: Jane Schoenburn
Distributed by: A24
Written by Taylor Baker
54/100
Jane Schoenbrun’s debut “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” from 2021 was a film about a young girl who has the lines of reality and fantasy blur as she partakes in a creepypasta role-playing game on an online forum. Jane revisits those lines of fantasy and reality blurring in their sophomore “I Saw the TV Glow,” a film that centers on the relationship that two awkward teenagers share with a friendship centered around “The Pink Opaque” a television show where two teenagers share a psychic link after a trip to summer camp.
With Owen (Justice Smith) unable to watch “The Pink Opaque” because he can’t stay up past 10:00-no matter how old he gets–he begins to fake sleepovers at a friend’s house so he can sneak to his older friend Maddy’s (Brigette Lundy-Paine) house and stay up late to watch the show on Saturday night. In the twilight hours of these visits, Maddy and Owen share their dreams and fears. It’s unclear how similar their home environments are, what is clear is how they both feel about their homes and the escapism they find in watching “The Pink Opaque.”
Jane makes a myriad of strong aesthetic decisions in her film, with some uniquely vibrant special effects, and low-brow simple but effective grotesque effects that call back her inspiration from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” as well as the villains you would see weekly in 90s shows like “Power Rangers” or “Big Bad Beetleborgs” as influences to “The Pink Opaque. While it does a great job of setting its mood and tone, its lack of commitment to what is real and what isn’t undercuts the strength of the narrative and feels like a cop-out of what the characters and the audience saw during the runtime. “I Saw the TV Glow” is another exploration of the truths and falsity we find growing up in the suburbs of America, how impactful each viewer finds this rendition of these ideas and feelings will determine how much they do or don’t enjoy it.
“I Saw the TV Glow” Trailer
You can follow more of Taylor’s thoughts on film on Letterboxd, Twitter, and Rotten Tomatoes.
