Movie Review: I Saw the TV Glow

In 1996, Owen (Justice Smith) is waiting for his parents to finish voting in the high school cafeteria when he encounters Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) reading a book about the cult TV show The Pink Opaque (a kind of cross between The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer). His overly strict father still enforces an early bedtime on his lonely teenaged son and so he hasn’t been able to watch the show but finds himself drawn to it when advertisements air. He strikes up a conversation with Maddy and reveals his predicament and she invites him to sneak out one Saturday night to join her and a friend for their weekly watch party where despite the show’s cheesy, low-budget tone he finds it instantly revelatory.

He and the equally awkward Maddy now obsess over the show together, as she tapes the episodes and slips them to him at school. Watching them at home he keeps his interest hidden from his father, who berates his interest in a show “for girls”. Then one day, Maddy goes missing and the series is canceled.

A decade later Maddy appears out of the blue. She explains that she had run away from her abusive father but still continued to feel like something was wrong with her life. She grew convinced that the world of The Pink Opaque was the real one and this reality was a lie that she needed to escape from, and that she had found a way to return there, which is why no one could find her over the prior 10 years. Now, she wants Owen to return there with her, an idea that he is understandably skeptical of and even somewhat alarmed by. Still, a large part of him believes her, especially since he has never felt like he really belongs in our world.

Writer / director Jane Schoenbrun came up with the idea for I Saw the TV Glow while she was first beginning her journey as a transgender woman and the parallels between that experience and that of main character Owen are clear, though anyone who has ever felt like an outcast will still find much of this story sadly relatable. Marketed as a horror film this is really more horror-adjacent, but the mental anguish that Owen experiences as he is forced to keep his true feelings bottled up inside leads to some upsetting sequences, especially as brilliantly portrayed by Smith.

There are some issues with pacing, as the narrative sometimes meanders and even stalls out. But Schoenbrun and cinematographer Eric K. Yue have a knack for capturing arresting images which when combined with the stellar soundtrack and excellent performances keep audiences glued to the screen. This is a story that will resonate deeply with many viewers and should linger with most for days as they ponder over its themes and revelations. I Saw the TV Glow may not be a masterpiece, but it comes pretty close. ★★★★