I Saw the TV Glow
I Saw the TV Glow | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Jane Schoenbrun |
Written by | Jane Schoenbrun |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Eric K. Yue |
Edited by | Sofi Marshall |
Music by | Alex G |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | A24 |
Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.8 million[2][3] |
I Saw the TV Glow is a 2024 American psychological horror-drama film written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. It stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine, with Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Fred Durst and Danielle Deadwyler in supporting roles. The film follows two troubled young friends whose reality begins to spiral when the TV show they bonded over gets cancelled. Emma Stone and Dave McCary serve as producers under their Fruit Tree banner.
The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2024. It was given a limited release by A24 in the United States on May 3, 2024, with a nationwide release on May 17, and received positive reviews from critics.
Plot
In 1996, Owen, an isolated 7th grader, meets Maddy, a 9th grade lesbian, when he notices her reading an episode guide for the young adult show The Pink Opaque, which follows teenagers Isabel and Tara as they fight monsters using their psychic connection. Under the pretext of sleeping over at a classmate's house, Owen sneaks over to Maddy's to watch a new episode with her and her friend Amanda, finding himself captivated by it.
Two years later, Owen's mother Brenda is terminally ill and Maddy has been ostracized at school after a rumor that she grabbed Amanda's breast. With Owen unable to watch the show live due to his bedtime curfew and his father Frank deriding it as "for girls," Maddy tapes the episodes for him to watch later. Owen goes to her house to watch a new episode, where she draws the symbol that connects Isabel and Tara on the back of his neck. She resolves to run away to escape her abusive stepfather and asks Owen to come with her, which he commits to but later backs out of. Brenda dies later that year and Maddy vanishes a few weeks later, while The Pink Opaque is cancelled after five seasons.
Now 2008, Owen still lives with Frank and works at a local movie theater. Maddy reappears one night and takes Owen to a bar outside of town that is also a location in The Pink Opaque. She prompts Owen to remember watching the show's finale. In the episode, Isabel and Tara have their hearts removed by the show's main antagonist, Mr. Melancholy, are fed his poisonous "luna juice," and are buried alive. The episode implies that Owen is an unconscious Isabel, causing him to panic and shove his head into the TV screen. Frank pulls him out and forces him to wash himself, while Owen screams that he is not living his real life and vomits luna juice.
In the present, Maddy explains to Owen that after leaving, the feelings of isolation and falsehood she felt at home followed her, so she paid a man to bury her alive. After eventually suffocating, she woke in The Pink Opaque as Tara, her real self. She claims they are currently in Mr. Melancholy's "midnight realm", where people are sent after drinking the luna juice. She urges Owen to bury himself with her and start season six as Isabel before he suffocates from being buried in The Pink Opaque, but he panics and runs home. He waits for Maddy to return and force him to bury himself, but never sees her again.
Frank dies a few years later and Owen stays in the house, settling down and starting an unseen family. He takes a job at a family entertainment center. He rediscovers The Pink Opaque on a streaming service, but finds it to be cheesier than he remembers. Twenty years later, Owen still works at the center and his asthma has become severe. During a birthday party at the center, he breaks down, screams that he is dying, and begs for his mother to save him. Owen observes everyone around him turn lifeless before locking himself in the bathroom. He cuts his chest open and sees a TV screen inside of him playing distorted footage. He then returns to the center, apologizing to the uncaring guests for his breakdown before the screen cuts to black.
Cast
- Justice Smith as Owen
- Ian Foreman as younger Owen
- Brigette Lundy-Paine as Maddy
- Helena Howard as Isabel
- Fred Durst as Frank
- Danielle Deadwyler as Brenda[4]
- Lindsey Jordan as Tara
- Amber Benson as Johnny Link's Mom
- Conner O'Malley as Dave
- Emma Portner as Mr. Melancholy/Marco/Amanda/Evil Clown
- Michael C. Maronna as Neighbor #1
- Danny Tamberelli as Neighbor #2
Appearing as themselves in the film are Phoebe Bridgers, Haley Dahl and their band Sloppy Jane, as well as Kristina Esfandiari and her band King Woman.
Themes
Lundy-Paine cited I Saw the TV Glow as an allegory for being transgender.[5]
Production
In October 2021, it was announced Jane Schoenbrun would direct the film, from a screenplay they wrote, with Emma Stone set to produce under her Fruit Tree banner, with A24 producing, financing, and distributing.[6] In August 2022, it was announced Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Helena Howard, Danielle Deadwyler, Amber Benson, Ian Foreman, Michael Maronna, Conner O'Malley, Emma Portner, Danny Tamberelli, Phoebe Bridgers, Lindsey Jordan, Fred Durst, Haley Dahl, Jonathan Chacko, and Kristina Esfandiari had joined the cast of the film.[7][8]
Principal photography took place in New Jersey from July to August 2022.[9][10][11] Shooting took place at Verona High School, Cedar Grove High School and Keansburg Amusement Park. Other notable locations were the music venue The Saint and Camp Lewis.[11]
Music
The film's original score was composed by Alex G. The film features an original soundtrack that includes songs from Caroline Polachek, Sloppy Jane, Phoebe Bridgers, Kristina Esfandiari, Florist, yeule, and Drab Majesty among others. The soundtrack was released on May 10, 2024, followed by Alex's score which released on May 16.[12]
Release
I Saw the TV Glow premiered in the Midnight section at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2024.[13] It also screened at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section on February 20, 2024[14] and South by Southwest on March 10, 2024.[15][16] It was released in limited theaters on May 3, 2024, playing in New York and Los Angeles,[17] before a nationwide expansion on May 17.[18]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 154 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "With a distinctive visual aesthetic that enhances its emotionally resonant narrative, I Saw the TV Glow further establishes writer-director Jane Schoenbrun as a rising talent."[19] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[20]
Guy Lodge of Variety wrote, "This is both promising psychodrama fodder on its own terms, and of a piece with the particular fixations Schoenbrun has established across their small oeuvre thus far".[21] David Ehrlich of IndieWire wrote, "Schoenbrun's astonishing second feature manages to retain the seductive fear of their micro-budget debut and deepen its thrilling wounds of discovery even while examining them at a much larger scale".[22] Some reviewers also praised its transgender themes, with Richard Brody for The New Yorker calling it "a profound vision of the trans experience" and Veronica Esposito for The Guardian saying it "speaks to '90s trans teens".[23][24]
The film did receive some negative reviews with Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Times describing the film as a "collection of leaden scenes that might make the audience want to claw out of its own skin" adding, "The film invents a new emotion: passionate ambivalence."[25] Nicolas Rapold of Sight & Sound agreed writing, "There's the awed sense of a blueprint or roadmap that is insisted upon without entirely being executed and fulfilled" adding "[it] is a collection...of sequences and moments more than a fully realised whole."[26]
References
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow". Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow". A24 Press. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ^ Dick, Jeremy (May 19, 2024). "I Saw the TV Glow Stars Address Trans Allegories of A24 Film". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved May 26, 2024.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (October 7, 2021). "A24 And Emma Stone's Fruit Tree Banner Reunite On Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw The TV Glow". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ Kit, Borys (August 24, 2022). "Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine Starring in A24 Horror Thriller I Saw the TV Glow (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ Bergeson, Samantha (August 24, 2022). "Phoebe Bridgers and Helena Howard Join Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow at A24". IndieWire. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ Schoenbrun, Jane (July 12, 2022). "It's real!! We are making an @A24 movie this summer!!". Twitter. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ Schoenbrun, Jane (August 17, 2022). "That's a wrap :-)". Twitter. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ a b Kuperinsky, Amy (February 28, 2024). "See trailer for I Saw the TV Glow, an A24 horror movie filmed in N.J." NJ.com. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
- ^ Keates, Emma (April 25, 2024). "A24 shares new song from stellar I Saw The TV Glow soundtrack". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Patten, Dominic (December 6, 2023). "Sundance Unveils Packed 2024 Lineup That Includes A.I., Pedro Pascal, Kristen Stewart, Satan, Devo & Steven Yeun". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
- ^ Ntim, Zac (December 14, 2023). "Berlin: Saoirse Ronan, Danielle Deadwyler & Paapa Essiedu Titles Set For Panorama Sidebar". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow". South by Southwest. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 7, 2024). "SXSW 2024 Second Wave Includes Pics With Sydney Sweeney, Nicolas Cage, Camila Mendes & 'Monkey Man'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ Bergeson, Samantha (February 28, 2024). "'I Saw the TV Glow' Trailer: Jane Schoenbrun Channels David Lynch and Late-Night Cable Nightmares for A24 Horror Movie". IndieWire. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
- ^ I Saw The TV Glow [@tvglowmovie] (April 19, 2024). "Follow the glow 📺 Jane Schoenbrun's groundbreaking horror #ISawTheTVGlow opens in NY/LA theaters May 3, nationwide May 17. Get tickets now" (Tweet). Retrieved April 19, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
- ^ Lodge, Guy (January 19, 2024). "I Saw the TV Glow Review: Jane Schoenbrun's Eerie Ode to Adolescent Television Obsessions". Variety. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- ^ Ehrlich, David (January 19, 2024). "I Saw the TV Glow Review: Jane Schoenbrun's Second Feature Is a Haunting Look at What We See in Our Media". IndieWire. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- ^ "Nostalgia horror I Saw the TV Glow speaks to 90s trans teens like me". The Guardian.
- ^ ""I Saw the TV Glow" Is a Profound Vision of the Trans Experience". The New Yorker.
- ^ "Review: 'I Saw the TV Glow' gets stranded in a glum gaze from which it never stirs". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "I Saw the TV Glow: a rough portrait of fanatical obsession". Sight and Sound. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
External links
- 2024 films
- 2024 independent films
- 2024 horror thriller films
- 2024 LGBT-related films
- 2020s American films
- 2020s monster movies
- 2020s psychological drama films
- 2020s teen horror films
- African-American drama films
- African-American horror films
- African-American LGBT-related films
- Allegory
- American buddy horror films
- American horror drama films
- American horror thriller films
- American monster movies
- American psychological drama films
- American psychological horror films
- American teen horror films
- American teen LGBT-related films
- A24 (company) films
- Films about fandom
- Films about missing people
- Films about television
- Films set in 1996
- Films set in 1998
- Films set in 2006
- Films set in 2008
- Films set in 2028
- Films shot in New Jersey
- Lesbian-related films
- LGBT-related horror drama films
- LGBT-related horror thriller films
- Transgender-related films