"I Saw the TV Glow"

Distributed by the ever-fashionable yet indeed-daring studio A24, I Saw the TV Glow is an idiosyncratic film written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun and co-starring Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine as a pair of misfit adolescents who obliquely bond over a certain television show and carry that bond, in broken form, into their adulthood. To its credit, this cinematic venture is quirky and creative, honest and genuine. But unfortunately, it is too self-conscious in both style and story to prove fully effective. Granted, I Saw the TV Glow is supposed to be self-conscious and somewhat surreal, but the point is that the self-consciousness is overt to the point where the surrealism seems contrived. Ironically, for surrealism to prove effective in film — at least in a drama or black comedy such as this one, a movie that is not a clear parody or satire — it usually needs to be organic or naturalistic, intrinsic rather than manipulated. Regrettably, that is not the case in I Saw the TV Glow.

The film appears to be an allegory of sorts, and it has something to say about human desolation and compensatory identification. In other words, the screen (in this case television) offers the potential for transcendence and catharsis. Similarly, the movie’s story is also one of delusion and despair. But ultimately, the picture’s overly self-conscious style inhibits the full realization of these themes, instead turning them into mere potential. It is an intriguing film — “decent” — yet only partially successful.