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.
Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR (2021 Sundance Film Festival) introduced us to a new genre of their own design: emo horror. Their follow-up feature builds upon that vibe, worming its way into the subconscious with an equally potent autopsy of reality versus fiction. As Owen, Justice Smith exudes a quiet vulnerability, while co-lead Brigette Lundy-Paine displays a confident yet awkward conviction. Schoenbrun has a knack for portraying the trappings of adolescent family life with nuance and a welcome ambiguity, freeing audience members to relate in a way that is best suited to their own experiences. I SAW THE TV GLOW forces us to consider whether the memories of our youth betrayed us, or if something more sinister is at play. (Synopsis courtesy of 2024 Sundance Film Festival Guide)
“Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun, a singular Millennial artmaker, has rendered an entrancing, richly stylized trans masterpiece. This eerily sumptuous cinematic text is a one-of-a-kind coming-of-ager about how we project our yearnings and unresolved identity crises onto the media that speaks to us… Where others could have made a less sophisticated pastiche, Schoenbrun has filtered the familiar through their nonconforming lens to beget a bona fide original.” —Carlos Aguilar, The Playlist
“Tender yet rageful, quiet yet deafening, intimate yet expansive, Jane Schoenbrun’s I SAW THE TV GLOW is a towering achievement of total artistic freedom… In capturing the trans experience with language that only cinema can convey, Schoenbrun has crafted one of the most original, evocative, adventurous films of this decade.” —Jordan Raup, Film Stage
“A remarkable portrait of pop-culture obsession — how it can unite us, change us, and ripple down through our entire lives in ways both uplifting and unsettling.” —Matthew Jackson, A.V. Club