Sometimes you're sitting in the theater and you think to yourself, "this movie is not for me."
That was not my initial reaction to the new film I Saw The TV Glow, but after 30 minutes in, with no idea what the point of the film was, that thought not only crossed my mind but solidly took hold.
It's an A24 release, which, based on past experiences, usually means I'll be in for a treat. Well, the best thing I can say about it is that I'm glad there are still production companies taking a chance on independent films. This film has an intriguing trailer. But the trailer does what a trailer is supposed to do - entice you to see the movie. Kudos to the trailer production company.
After sitting through the thankfully short film, it's only 90 minutes, and talking with other reviewers outside, I still can't tell you what the point of the film was. I expected creepy. Didn't happen. I expected sci-fi. Didn't happen.
In all honesty, what I feel I watched was an uninteresting 90-minute peek into the mind of a conspiracy theorist with ADHD, who convinced herself that the television show she was addicted to was real. What was happening to the characters was really taking place on some other plane of existence that only they could see. Ok, to me, that's what I imagine watching 90 minutes of Fox's 'The Five' panel is like. Completely removed from any semblance of reality, which circles back to my conspiracy theorist theory. But I digress.
In a nutshell, a young, very shy boy named Owen (Ian Foreman), who is pretty much friendless and never looks directly at people when he's talking to them, loses his mother. He's the kind of kid who is never noticed in school. His mother seems to be the only person he speaks to. I don't recall an actual conversation he has with his dad.
And then he meets Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who is older and much, much hipper than he could ever hope to be. They bond over a sci-fi teen TV show called The Pink Opaque. The characters have tattooed irridescent pink ghosts on the backs of their necks, which somehow allows them to commune with beings from another world, including a man with a dripping ice cream cone for a head.
One of the first shots we see of that show is of what looks like a moon with a face that is scowling... so reminiscent of the 1902 sci-fi silent classic, "A Trip To The Moon", that everyone in the theater started laughing. I don't think that's what the Director was going for, but I could be wrong. I believe they were going for more of a Smashing Pumpkins set, with all the feels of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness being projected by every cast member. That album was released in 1995, so it definitely fits the timeline of the film. But again, I'm definitely not the target audience.
When the film opens, we hear the line "It can't hurt you if you don't think about them." The school they're attending in 1996 is VOID HS. Yes. Literally VHS is on the school banners. With those two pieces of threads right off the bat I thought, hmmm, a little foreshadowing, ok, great!
Sigh.
It had potential. Sort of like a reverse Poltergeist or The Ring, except people get sucked INTO the tv set. Maybe with a touch of Lisey's Story, by horrormaster Stephen King.
But no.
What did surprise me was that a teen in 1996 was completely comfortable talking to her friend about being queer. Maddy makes it extremely clear to Owen that she feels she doesn't belong in the small suburban town, and that she must find her way out, at any cost. To find herself. The journey she takes is the second act of the film, leaving Owen behind to find his own way.
So is this film meant to be less of a sci-fi creepout and more of a metaphor for finding out who you really are and following that path, wherever it may lead? Possibly. But I had to read through the production notes to gain that understanding.
In the production notes, Writer/Director Jane Schoenbrun discusses her really dark obsession with all the shows that ran on Nickelodeon, such as Are You Afraid Of The Dark, YCDTOTV and Salute Your Shorts. Most of which were comedies, and not remotely creepy. Even Nick's gak and slime play imporant roles in Glow, but I'm not going to tell you how, because maybe the film is for you, and I don't want to spoil the surprise. As the saying goes, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Maybe Glow is the kind of film that you should read the production notes before walking in the door. But, to me, that means the film doesn't really hang together.
That was not my initial reaction to the new film I Saw The TV Glow, but after 30 minutes in, with no idea what the point of the film was, that thought not only crossed my mind but solidly took hold.
It's an A24 release, which, based on past experiences, usually means I'll be in for a treat. Well, the best thing I can say about it is that I'm glad there are still production companies taking a chance on independent films. This film has an intriguing trailer. But the trailer does what a trailer is supposed to do - entice you to see the movie. Kudos to the trailer production company.
After sitting through the thankfully short film, it's only 90 minutes, and talking with other reviewers outside, I still can't tell you what the point of the film was. I expected creepy. Didn't happen. I expected sci-fi. Didn't happen.
In all honesty, what I feel I watched was an uninteresting 90-minute peek into the mind of a conspiracy theorist with ADHD, who convinced herself that the television show she was addicted to was real. What was happening to the characters was really taking place on some other plane of existence that only they could see. Ok, to me, that's what I imagine watching 90 minutes of Fox's 'The Five' panel is like. Completely removed from any semblance of reality, which circles back to my conspiracy theorist theory. But I digress.
In a nutshell, a young, very shy boy named Owen (Ian Foreman), who is pretty much friendless and never looks directly at people when he's talking to them, loses his mother. He's the kind of kid who is never noticed in school. His mother seems to be the only person he speaks to. I don't recall an actual conversation he has with his dad.
And then he meets Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who is older and much, much hipper than he could ever hope to be. They bond over a sci-fi teen TV show called The Pink Opaque. The characters have tattooed irridescent pink ghosts on the backs of their necks, which somehow allows them to commune with beings from another world, including a man with a dripping ice cream cone for a head.
One of the first shots we see of that show is of what looks like a moon with a face that is scowling... so reminiscent of the 1902 sci-fi silent classic, "A Trip To The Moon", that everyone in the theater started laughing. I don't think that's what the Director was going for, but I could be wrong. I believe they were going for more of a Smashing Pumpkins set, with all the feels of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness being projected by every cast member. That album was released in 1995, so it definitely fits the timeline of the film. But again, I'm definitely not the target audience.
When the film opens, we hear the line "It can't hurt you if you don't think about them." The school they're attending in 1996 is VOID HS. Yes. Literally VHS is on the school banners. With those two pieces of threads right off the bat I thought, hmmm, a little foreshadowing, ok, great!
Sigh.
It had potential. Sort of like a reverse Poltergeist or The Ring, except people get sucked INTO the tv set. Maybe with a touch of Lisey's Story, by horrormaster Stephen King.
But no.
What did surprise me was that a teen in 1996 was completely comfortable talking to her friend about being queer. Maddy makes it extremely clear to Owen that she feels she doesn't belong in the small suburban town, and that she must find her way out, at any cost. To find herself. The journey she takes is the second act of the film, leaving Owen behind to find his own way.
So is this film meant to be less of a sci-fi creepout and more of a metaphor for finding out who you really are and following that path, wherever it may lead? Possibly. But I had to read through the production notes to gain that understanding.
In the production notes, Writer/Director Jane Schoenbrun discusses her really dark obsession with all the shows that ran on Nickelodeon, such as Are You Afraid Of The Dark, YCDTOTV and Salute Your Shorts. Most of which were comedies, and not remotely creepy. Even Nick's gak and slime play imporant roles in Glow, but I'm not going to tell you how, because maybe the film is for you, and I don't want to spoil the surprise. As the saying goes, you pays your money and you takes your chances. Maybe Glow is the kind of film that you should read the production notes before walking in the door. But, to me, that means the film doesn't really hang together.