Spoilers have the last episode on tape.

There are some movies where the plot itself is just a canvas to give life to a world that might have existed in a place and time long gone. This feature is dedicated to the people that lived back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s but who themselves also always felt out of place and time in that era. This film will have niche audiences that don’t necessarily agree with each other, but it can be appreciated in different levels. There’s a good chance there’s something for you here, but it also might miss the mark.

(Credit: A24)

I Saw the TV Glow (2024) is written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. It’s 1996 and introverted young Owen (Ian Foreman) forms a connection with outsider Maddy (Jack Haven) over her favourite TV show, one that Owen is not allowed to stay up and watch. The show, The Pink Opaque, portrays two teenage heroines fighting a supernatural monster every week. Owen sneaks out of the house to watch it in Maddy’s basement and gets hooked. Maddy herself has a personal connection to the show, feeling identified with its themes of female empowerment.

As years go by, both Maddy and Owen (Justice Smith) are still hanging out and watching the show, although Owen must still sneak out to do it. During one evening, Maddy cries and explains to Owen she is planning to run away to escape her stepfather. She tries to get Owen to come with her, but he ends up staying. Things become harder for Owen as his mother passes away. Maddy goes missing, and her TV is found set on fire outside her home. The Pink Opaque is cancelled.

It will be 2006, while Owen is working at a local movie theatre, that he will encounter Maddy appearing out of the blue. She takes him to a bar on the edge of town, asks him about the show and lets him know that she’s been living in it for the past eight years. She convinces Owen to rewatch the final episode. Owen agrees not knowing that this will be trigger a sequence of events that will blur the line between reality and fantasy.

The film is an obvious allegory of the young protagonist in search of their identity. In that time and place it was often TV shows that became the conduit of ideas for an entire generation searching for something they couldn’t find anywhere else. The movie uses elements of horror and pays homage to TV shows of that era. Owen’s voyage of self discovery is not a pleasant one, and yet it feels necessary. I cannot speak for the gender dysphoria element, but the idea of challenging one’s identity from within is undoubtedly familiar.

It works in the sense of having developed characters dealing with conflict in their own way, while the film uses horror elements to depict turmoil. However, the plot itself is less about the story and more cathartic than really satisfying. Not everything here will draw mainstream audiences, with the very real possibility that some will not get anything at all. Still the visual style is both nostalgic and reminiscent of horror themes from the time.

Highly recommended to a niche audience with reservations. Don’t expect a necessarily linear or solid plot that requires a triumphant ending. There is more realization than victory in this narrative. Perhaps worth a watch but as usual, this is one tea cup that might not be to your liking. Then again, how else would you know which flavour is yours?

That will do for now.