I SAW THE TV GLOW

I Saw the TV Glow wears its indie credentials like a proud badge, but with an opaque plot, muddled themes and emotionless performances, tedium easily wins out over weirdness or originality.

Unwilling to provide the viewer easy answers to the many questions the picture poses, I Saw the TV Glow stubbornly refuses to compromise on its elaborate style and narrative. Undoubtedly that will endear the film to a certain audience, but I’m not a member of that crowd.

The film recounts how young black boy Owen and slightly older lesbian girl Maddy bond over the cheesy, fantastical late-night TV show The Pink Opaque. Once Maddy runs away from home and the show is cancelled, Owen is left pondering how the series shaped his life and memories, and what this means for his future.

The plot is just a conduit for filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun to layer on the allegories however. In particular a scene in which Maddy describes how she asks a stranger to bury her alive, only to escape her grave with a new identity hints heavily at I Saw the TV Glow’s intent of saying something meaningful about transgender issues. The problem is: for most viewers, including me, that message is spelled out too clumsily.

Not only is the intended overarching theme muddled by other allegories – like the destructive power melancholia and nostalgia hold, or the way screen reality dominates actual reality – Schoenbrun utilises an at times lethargic pace. On top of that, the many explanatory monologues create an artificiality that completely undermines the emotional development of the characters.

On the positive side: visually I Saw the TV Glow carves out its own neon-lit niche, albeit one that is heavily influenced by eighties directors like David Cronenberg and Michael Mann. But that’s just a thin silver lining on a movie that bores more than it intrigues.

release: 2024

director: Jane Schoenbrun

starring: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan