Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show - a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.

The Garden Cinema View:

Also taking into account their micro-budget We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021), Jane Schoenbrun has now established themselves as a filmmaker who inherently understands life experiences as refracted through onscreen media. This took the shape of Gen Z online communities/webcam culture in World’s Fair, but here drills into a 1990s world of VHS tapes, fuzzy CRT sets, and obsession with a Buffy the Vampire/Charmed type YA-fantasy show. On a specific level, I Saw the TV Glow operates as an allegory of non-heteronormative identity that can only be felt and understood within fictionalised spaces. But it also taps into an epochal nostalgia of escaping from any manner of childhood anxieties into 30 minutes of comforting yet gently disturbing television.

Schoenbrun’s style is impressionistic, and their narratives drift dreamily away from clear resolutions and motivations. This atmosphere is reflected in the awkwardly emo performances from Justice Smith (slightly irritating) and Brigette Lundy-Paine (great), and a dream-pop/indie-folk soundtrack marshalled by Alex G, and featuring the likes of L’Rain, Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail, Caroline Polachek, and yuele.  

Cast:
Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine