I Saw the TV Glow
2024
**
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Cast: Justice Smith, Jack Haven, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Conner O'Malley, Emma Portner, Ian Foreman, Fred Durst, Danielle Deadwyler
Two teenage outcasts bond over their shared obsession with a mysterious TV show named The Pink Opaque, which appears more real than their own lives. Jane Schoenbrun's mystery blurs reality and fiction in the vein of Lost Highway, Donnie Darko, and Videodrome. The film should be right up my alley, but I didn’t feel engaged with it at any point. The over-saturated visuals and Justice Smith's sadsack character didn't help matters. The story ends up covering a 30-year time span and it's apparently an allegory for being transgender or coming out.
