MOVIE-DREAM-TV-NIGHTMARE: Jane Schoernbrun's I SAW THE TV GLOW (w/d Jane Schoernbrun, w/Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, A24, 100mns, USA)
Not sure how this movie got a PG-13 if internet research is to be trusted. To this audience member, I SAW THE TV GLOW is straight up R: horrific, intense, and great. Hell, the main character cuts open their own chest in close up at one point.
A nightmare factory, the movie operates in the subterranean maze of the subconscious and the psychological.
In many ways, Jane Schoernbrun's I SAW THE TV GLOW may be one of THE discovery movies of 2024. It doesn't work in full. Several times, its ambition and atmosphere wobble like one too many plates spun by a circus performer. There may also be 1-2 false endings too many and a deliberate pace that asks a lot of you.
But when you dig your eyeballs into the moist earth of the strange and singular cinema of this movie, you are rewarded many times over.
I SAW THE TV GLOW is part of an ever decreasing rare breed of movie: a total revelation made by craftspeople who have a scary handle on the tools of moviemaking. But more than that, this movie is unto itself and has a GREAT last shot/moment. That's also rare these days.
I SAW THE TV GLOW follows the disjointed journey of Owen, a disconnected tween at the start of the movie, who befriends equally disconnected slightly older Maddie. They both bond over their obsession with a strange 90's tv series THE PINK OPAQUE, shown late at night on a Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon stand in channel.
But as Owen ages and Maddie disappears then reappears, their relationship to the television show may be stranger and more scary than either realizes at first.
This movie succeeds because it has the full conviction of its stylistic daring. The black light day glo colors of the real world (much of the movie takes place at night with the intense emotion of towering teen level feelings) are juxtopposed with square TV video clips of the show. The TV show is also drenched in day-glo colors but those you'd find on old episodes of the Canadian teen series DEGRASSI (which seems to be a partial inspiration for THE PINK OPAQUE).
The TV show within the movie feels way too strange and horrific for anything that ever could have passably played network or basic cable. And yet THE PINK OPAQUE has hints of TWIN PEAKS, COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG, THE X FILES, and other 90's-00's shows that were way dark and strange in comparison with other contemporaneous shows.
The above mentioned shows inspired niche fan bases of misfits, outsiders, weirdos. The kids who'd smoke outside of high school or the kids who would hang with the kids who'd smoke outside of high school.
There is an important metaphor at work here but this writer doesn't want to set you up or reveal anything that would prevent your own interpretation of the movie.
And in fact, this writer feels the movie succeeds because the metaphor could apply to anyone who feels dislocated or outside of "mainstream" culture. Schoernbrun employs some of the Wes Anderson playbook by naming the high school "Void High School" and the sports mascot the "Vulture". And yet Schoernbrun still seems to make sure the movie takes place in a (psychologically) recognizable real world.
It's impressive how recognizable the nightmare real world is even though Schoernbrun gives everything meta-generic names like "Fun Center". In fact, in some ways, Schoernbrun is only reflecting the reality of America's reactionary aggressive mindless blandness to an equally aggressive assertion of new identity politics.
A deep loneliness is at the heart of this picture. The main bad guy in THE PINK OPAQUE is a moon character named "Mr. Melancholy". And this melancholy permeates almost every frame of the film.
This writer did find the slow (though hypnotic) and intentional pacing to be trying at times. But it's worth toughing it out. The final scenes at a local "fun center", when Owen is an adult, disconnected from Maddie, suffering from worsening asthma and dislocation, are devastating. And the two leads-Justice Smith as Owen and Bridgette Lundy-Paine as Maddy-deserve huge applause for their committed performances. These performances are as much a part of the success of the movie as anything else.
The final shot is one of the rare recent masterpieces. Both connected to the story and something more. Something disturbing and transcendent.
And cinematic.
Craig Hammill is the founder.programmer of Secret Movie Club.