Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024 Review: I Saw The TV Glow
“I Saw the TV Glow” covers a lot of ground, and it’s one the industry loves (or at least it used to) celebrate on the festival circuit. If Jane Schoenbrun delved into some dark places for their previous breakout film “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” they immerse themselves in it for this one, to their detriment.
It’s not that there’s no beauty in this highly stylized, pink tinged fable about growing up queer in the suburbs, often a horror story in itself. Being queer themselves, Schoenbrun is at their best when focusing on the emotional reality of Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and the potentially life-saving nature of their bond.
Because let’s face it, there are some things kids today aren’t going to fully grasp. Bonding over pop culture has been a thing for as long as and continues to be a key component in Gen Z bonding, but millennials remember a time when a curfew could feel like an almost insurmountable obstacle to watching your favorite show. And what if that was the only show that could make you feel seen?
Just as a single episode of “Xena” could make baby gay brains everywhere explode, so too do Owen and Maddy find relief in the world of “The Pink Opaque,” which sees two teen girls form a psychic bond after meeting at camp and fighting a monster of the week sent by their ultimate foe. Schoenbrun is clearly a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fan, gifting their own fictionalized monster show with similar fonts and plot lines, but retooling it to make the budget lower and the aesthetics more attuned to Adult Swim rather than the sleeker prime viewing timeslot of its inspiration.
It’s appropriate for the cult aesthetic Schoenbrun feels most at home in, and it certainly presents a far more appealing world as the characters leave high school and struggle into the even colder world of adulthood. As sympathetic as Owen’s frustration and lack of vocabulary for his burgeoning identity is, a character that refuses to invest in themselves is a throwback of a different sort, one best left in the era the movie is chronicling.
“I Saw the TV Glow” is a deeply compassionate film for those queer folks who were left behind, but as it submerses itself deeper in the learned helplessness of its protagonist, even the most beautifully neon brand of regret can become dull and repetitive. When trans stories have also become increasingly a part of the mainstream, such resignation also feels not only unnecessary, but more strangely out of place than any body horror, any and all accompanying creativity be damned. But chances are many will congratulate themselves yet again for giving their blessing to another story about seemingly unending queer suffering.
Rating: C+
