I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2024) • Page 5

I’m about to break my years long streak of not going to a movie theater to see this! Think the last movie I saw was in 2021 during the brief period of time after everyone got their first vaccine and felt slightly safer to go out and do things.

 

Brilliant, beautiful, heartbreaking stuff. VERY curious about what others in the theater thought about it. Also I will never complain about Connor O’Malley very randomly appearing in a movie.

 

Just saw this! Still chewing on it. Definitely a very sudden ending that makes sense the more I read about it.

It’s almost like if Kyle Mooney adapted a Phoebe Bridgers song.

 

This was so good. Terrifying and heartbreaking. I know there are more and more millennial filmmakers coming into prominence but Jane feels like the one most in harmony with my interests in movies and music. It’s honestly wild to see all these things coming together on screen: Broken Social Scene, Nickelodeon, Limp Bizkit, Lynch, Cronenberg, on top of the more modern choices like Phoebe and Lindsey Jordan in the cast. Wild. Mr. Melancholy is basically cribbed straight from the “Tonight, Tonight” video. Loved that so much because it feels like every decision has been so carefully mapped out to be elliptical and meta. It’s kind of overwhelming how much there is to unpack. Even the shot of Mr. Melancholy was very reminiscent of the final shot of Skinamarink, which Jane was a big fan of. Curious about if that shot informed that scene or if I Saw the TV Glow was already in the can by then.


This and Challengers are for sure the two best films I’ve seen this year, for very different reasons as they scratch different itches.

 

This was incredible. Between these last two films, Jane captures suburban loneliness better than I’ve ever seen.

 

Also if anyone has seen Taste of Cherry by Kiarostami, that definitely popped into my head during a very pivotal scene.

 

This was great.

You can tell it was made by a trans/nonbinary filmmaker in their 30s because they included both Fred Durst and Phoebe Bridgers in the cast. (And y’know, the rest of the movie, too.)

Brigette Lundy-Paine is so cool and I love them so much. I believe this is the first thing I’ve seen them in? Unless there’s something I’m blanking on.

My current feeling is that this and Love Lies Bleeding are my clear top two that the back half of the year is gonna struggle to push out of those slots. But, we’ll see!

 

Brigette is great as the sister in Atypical!

 

They were a lot of fun as Keanu’s daughter in Bill and Ted 3. But holy shit that monologue. I wish it was already online because I couldn’t get over how good they were in that scene.

I was a “very much loved the first half, letdown by the second half” person when I saw it this afternoon, but after a lot of reflection it keeps moving higher in esteem overall. Heartbreaking and haunting.

Wouldn’t be surprised if it falls in my next tier under Dune: Part Two, Challengers, and Love Lies Bleeding, as they are easily my top three of the year so far.

 

I already - desperately - want to see this again.

 

I am very curious how it’ll play a second time through, now that I know the whole thing. Would love to have that second watch in theaters; hopefully I have time this week.

Gosh, movies are so cool.

 

Is Justice Smith’s line reading on the bleachers the best line reading of the decade?

“I think that I like tv shows” will never leave me.

 

Does A24 ever restock? Dying for that Mr. Sprinkly tee...

 

I was thinking of getting the pink opaque hat

 

They restocked all the "Love Lies Bleeding" stuff, so I imagine they'll do the same for this. Would be dumb to just leave money on the table like that.

 

I can’t get this movie out of my mind.

 

Do you have a ghost tattoo

 

Everything just got restocked so now is your chance!

 

Minor gripe, The Pink Opaque feels like a really odd title for a kids show and it would probably be something more direct like The Pink Spirits or something.

 

They must be a big Cocteau twins fan

 

your face is a really odd title for a kids show OHHHHH

 

Ok, but have you considered that this movie is surreal, and “The Pink Opaque” sounds dope as fuck?

 

This movie has stuck with me since seeing it a couple weeks ago. Definitely feels like an expansion of World's Fair in a really neat way. Jane captures the eerie feeling of dissociation and nonexistence better than almost any filmmaker I've seen... Partially cause I can't think of who else is trying to capture that specific mood.

I was unsure about the movie up to the ending, which really sold it for me. Very haunting and upsetting. Justice Smith's acting in the final scenes was incredible.

The entire sequence with the series finale was also harrowing. That shot of him hysterically trying to climb into the TV while it's sparking is indelible. Feels like the film's defining shot and it's one of the best images I've seen in a while. Beautiful and unique, but also so, so upsetting.

 

This movie will not leave me. Hoping to see it again before it leaves our theatre here this week.

 

I wanna see some thoughtful pieces on the intersection of queerness and pop culture fandom (and its potential, pitfalls, etc.) in light of this movie[’s glow].