I Saw the TV Glow

A teenager (Justice Smith) struggling through school in the US suburbs is introduced to a weird late-night TV show, Pink Opaque, by an older student (Brigette Lundy-Paine).

Doesn’t phone in a single scene, every frame and movement is carefully considered and very pretty. It’s a neon-bathed dream-turned-nightmare, that pulls from David Lynch but very much charts its own course. Just as the characters are transfixed by the glow of the TV, I was utterly mesmerised by this film.

Schoenbrun has such a keen sense of the rhythm of the film, knowing when to push the envelope a little, when to show restraint, when to hold the shot for a little longer than seems right, when to keep things moving.

In an age where we’re expected to be looking at our phones while watching a film, it’s refreshing to see that someone still believes in cinema as a visual art form that can be used to tell a story or convey a mood.

Yes it’s yet another coming of age story about struggling to find one’s true self but ignore the synopsis, I Saw the TV Glow is a truly unique, strange and beautiful piece of work.