MIFF 2024 Film Review - I Saw the TV Glow

Images courtesy of Common State.

Director Jane Schoenbrun impresses with I Saw The TV Glow - a horror flick which is only half-scary but full heartbreaking. Loosely billed as horror, the extent to which it will thrill or scare is dependent on the viewer. Visually and thematically, the picture fits neatly into the nascent “analogue horror” subgenre. In its veritable smorgasbord of 90’s/2000’s cultural nostalgia the film is tuned in neatly to contemporary online culture, to the kinds of horror populated on SCP forums, in YouTube found footage, and in the broader “creepypasta” meme trend.

The film is a form of meditation on the perils and rewards of fan culture,positing that truly loving a piece of media, and forming connections based on it, can be a way of carving out identity in an otherwise hostile world. But more than that it depicts the dangers of the slow waste-away on the couch endlessly longing for an emotion not felt since childhood. For a Queer audience it’s easy to relate to that desire to become lost in fiction. It’s important to note though that Schoenbrun (a trans filmmaker) is massively successful at creating empathy for the characters so that the themes of the story are left open to broader interpretations. After all, the fear of failing to grow up, of being left behind — these fears are universal ones. 

Impressively Schoenbrun clearly translates these rather abstract emotional fears into a compelling picture. It’s a gorgeous film with tour de force performances from Brigette Lundy-Paine and Justice Smith. Smith has generally received the most praise for his acting in this film but Lundy-Paine shouldn’t be underestimated. Towards the back end of the film there’s a jaw dropping monologue delivered by Lundy-Paine. Finally no review of this film should be complete without giving special mention to the nonpareil soundtrack, complete with Sloppy Jane and King Woman performances mid film, an impressively shot sequence which feels like more than half a reference to Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s mysteriously teen friendly nightclub The Bronze. The film is littered with these sorts of 90’s to early 2000’s pop cultural references, in a way which feels meaningful without pandering to a broader trend. This is a film which weaponises nostalgia into something cutting, hurtful, empowering, and devastating. 

I Saw the TV Glow is screening as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, running in cinemas and online August 8th-25th.

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