Review: I Saw The TV Glow

Image courtesy of A24.

Jane Schoenbrun's eerie and melancholic gender dysphoria allegory "I Saw the TV Glow" is a film that requires some work from the viewer - but those who like seeking out offbeat works won't mind the effort. I was very much into the film's neon-lit and otherworldly vibe but was a bit baffled at its abrupt and melodramatic ending, one that reminded me somewhat of the end of "Twin Peaks: The Return," a work that likely informed this picture to some extent. And like Lynch's seminal work, I have very much come out on the side of Schoenbrun's sophomore effort the more I think about it.

The film's key line - "You still have time" - is presented as almost as a throwaway; in fact, it's not spoken aloud but rather scrawled on a nighttime sidewalk in chalk. This occurs late in the film after lead character Owen (Justice Smith) is some years past the events of the film's first half - the picture starts in 1996 and jumps around in time all the way out to 2030, by my calculations. The phrase's author is Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), an older girl who succeeds in acting as Owen's guide through middle and high school but fails in her attempt in doing so for his adult life.

Owen meets Maddy on election night in 1996 as their parents vote at the local high school. Maddy is reading a guide to "The Pink Opaque" - a scary show for young adults that bears some similarities to "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and whose title is taken from a Cocteau Twins album compilation, which is appropriate considering the dreampop nature of the film's ethereal music.

Owen is not allowed to stay up late enough to watch the show, so he creates a ruse for his parents that he's going to spend the night at a friend's, but instead goes to Maddy's house to watch the show with her and a friend. We immediately get the sense that Maddy's home life is tense - it is hinted that her father is abusive - and we glean that she is into girls. When asked later about his own sexual preferences, Owen seems to have never pondered the matter. "I like TV shows," he says, adding that he's always felt empty and that were he to cut himself open, he'd be afraid to see what's inside.

Maddy continues to provide Owen with videotapes - this is the '90's, mind you - of the show's latest episodes. But after a few years, the show is abruptly canceled, ending on a devastating cliffhanger and, shortly thereafter, Maddy disappears without a trace, leaving only her burning television in the backyard. 

Owen grows up into a sullen young man. His mother develops cancer and his father scoffs at his obsession with a show that he claims "is for girls." There's one shot in which Maddy appears to help Owen get into a dress and they go out wandering - yet nothing more is made of the scene, which allows the audience to fill in its own blanks later after the film's ending.

One day, some years later, Maddy turns up out of the blue. She tells Owen that she had to escape their repressive suburb and suggests that he do so as well. She comes armed with a fantastical story - that she is now living within "The Pink Opaque" - and tells him that his destiny is to join her there as well. Owen ends up making a choice that probably seems rational, but ends up leading to the film's coda - which some may take as devastating, while others might see glimmers of hope.

So, yes, about that ending: there's a scream late in the film that reminded me of the finale of "Twin Peaks: The Return." In the context of that show, it was one of dismay for forever being trapped in one's fate, whereas in "I Saw the TV Glow," some might see it as cathartic. 

The scene that follows it involves a literal reenactment of something that Owen mentions earlier in the film. Schoenbrun has mentioned that the picture was written at the time that they were transferring from one gender to another, and Owen's final repetitive line - which I won't give away - that he keeps uttering has to do with the possibility of coming to terms with oneself, while at the same time not being ready to share it with others.

The "Twin Peaks" finale is not the only sequence that seemingly informs Schoenbrun's film. There's a dreamy and gorgeously shot sequence at a dive bar that seems very similar to the one in Lynch's show (this is the second time this year to witness such a scene; the other being Bertrand Bonello's "The Beast") and Maddy refers to the place's rotating acts (again, similar to "The Return"). The film's general atmosphere is not only Lynchian but also has shades of queer cinema icon Gregg Araki's work, especially the ever-present shoegaze music, the neon colors juxtaposed with nighttime photography, and the callout to the Cocteau Twins in the title (although none of their music appears here). 

The film includes some of the year's most memorable shots - the dreamy nightclub atmosphere, another in which Owen walks through the hallways of his school as the pink neon of the notes that Maddy scribbles to him about "The Pink Opaque" are scrawled across the screen, and numerous nightmarish images of the TV show's central villain, Mr. Melancholy, and his creepy subordinates.

This is the type of film that requires some reflection before formulating an opinion. While I was very much into the film's ethereal vibe - through a combination of image and sound - it wasn't until I'd thought over its ending and done some extracurricular reading on its gender dysphoria allegory that it all began to click. "I Saw the TV Glow" is a beautifully melancholic take on the dangers of not allowing oneself to know oneself by denying one's true self. It's a strange little movie that takes a little work to fully appreciate it - but it's worth the effort.