'I Saw the TV Glow' review: Life-changing TV show unites 2 teen outcasts in haunting film that stays with you
Justice Smith (left) and Brigette Lundy-Paine play lonely teens who form a connection in “I Saw the TV Glow.”
A24
Some films seem like they’re almost designed to be forgettable, even if you find them entertaining enough, e.g., what's it called, “The Fall Guy.” As much as I enjoyed the popcorn-movie fun of it all, I don’t expect to be spending much time thinking about “The Fall Guy” until I come across it on late-night cable or a streaming platform in a few years and give it a casual second viewing.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have films such as writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” which is such an original and disturbing and haunting and creatively outrageous piece of work that it refuses to drift from your conscience. Equal parts psychological horror film, 1990s TV nostalgia trip, coming of age story and dysphoria allegory, this is the kind of movie that you find yourself thinking about when you’re drifting off to sleep, the kind of movie that almost FEELS like a dream, the kind of movie that will stay with you for a long time to come.
“I Saw the TV Glow” jumps along the timeline but spends a good amount of time in 1996, with Bill Clinton about to win re-election and the culture in the last stages of the era when the Internet was in its nascent stages and had yet to take hold of the world, when TV shows were doled out one week at a time, and if you weren’t able to watch something in real time, the only alternative was to record it on VHS.
When seventh-grader Owen (played by Ian Foreman in the early scenes and Justice Smith for the bulk of the movie, and they're both terrific) meets ninth-grader Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine in a wondrous performance) in the high school gym (which is the local polling place) on election night, she has her head buried in an episode guide for “The Pink Opaque,” which she explains to Owen is a life-changing, supernatural TV show that airs at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday nights on the Young Adult Network.
Sidebar time. The name of the school is Void High School, aka VHS. “The Pink Opaque,” which features Helena Howard and Lindsey Jordan as best friends who communicate via an astral plane and face down a number of foes, most notably a chillingly creepy entity known as Mr. Melancholy (Emma Portner), is clearly influenced by “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The story arc of “I Saw the TV Glow” also contains elements of “The X-Files” and “Twin Peaks,” and the television as the centerpiece of a horror film is in keeping with movies such as “Poltergeist” (1982), “Videodrome” (1983), “Terrorvision” (1986) and the "Ring” movies. The Smashing Pumpkins album “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” is another obvious influence here. Writer-director Schoenbrun knows and embraces pop culture history, to say the least.
Owen’s overprotective mother (Danielle Deadwyler) and distant and verbally abusive father (Fred Durst) won’t let Owen stay up late to watch “The Pink Opaque”; besides, as his father sneers, “Isn’t that a show for GIRLS?” Maddy starts taping episodes of the show and leaving the video cassettes for Owen, and a friendship is forged between these two outcasts who feel like they don’t belong at school or at home or anyplace in this world.
With cinematographer Eric K. Yue and the production design team creating a suburban American landscape that feels utterly ordinary and yet completely surreal, we follow Owen through the years, from high schooler to his 20s to a middle-aged man looking back on his youth and even rewatching “The Pink Opaque,” which becomes a particularly startling experience. As for Maddy, after telling Owen she’ll die if she doesn’t escape her abusive father and the suffocating atmosphere of her life, she disappears, leaving the TV set aflame in her yard. When Maddy suddenly resurfaces years later, she tells Owen a story so fantastical it has to be delusional — or is it?
Even as “I Saw the TV Glow” indulges in a number of trippy and effective visual devices, we’re constantly reminded of Owen’s feelings of desperation and loneliness. We see him interacting with other people, but he never seems to be an active participant in his own life. Maddy is the only one he ever truly connects with, and when she’s gone, he’s lost. On one level, “The Pink Opaque” saves Owen; on another, it could lead to his undoing. Lines are blurred and reality is a shifting concept, and we’re left feeling wrung out by the entire experience, but grateful for Schoenbrun’s blazing and original storytelling vision.