TONIGHT’S FILM.
JANE SCHOENBRUN’S I SAW THE TV GLOW.
It’s a coming-of-age horror film. You can watch it on Max.
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FIRST, COMING OF AGE MOVIES.
Every week, I ask the tnmn community for film recommendations in an arbitrary category. We vote on our favorites. Last week's category was boat movies. To find out who won, vote on this week's featured submissions for coming of age movies.
🎬 Featured Recommendations
🏅 Honorable Mention
A Taste of Honey (1961) - Dave J. | Breaking Away (1979) - Chris H. | Harold and Maude (1971) - Dave J. | Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - Gordon C. | Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) - Jon P. | Walkabout (1971) - Dave J. | Better Off Dead (1985) - John L. | Thumb Tripping (1972) - Dave J. | Say Anything (1989) - Sherri M. | American Graffiti (1973) - Dave J. | Air Bud (1997) - Kenny F. | Juno (2007) - Dave J. | Blast From The Past (1999) - Laurie K. | Lady Bird (2017) - Greg M. | The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - Stuti P. | The Way Way Back (2013) - Jana H. | Sing Street (2016) - Victor H. | Snack Shack (2024) - Josh D.
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SUBMIT YOUR FAVORITE BREAKTHROUGH FILMS.
That is, films that put an actor or actress on the map. Reply to this email with your recommendation and why we should watch it. Include your first name and last initial. I’ll feature you in next week’s email. For duplicates, I’ll include up to three names and pick the best quote provided.
Note: If the movie doesn't comply with the category, I will contact your friends and tell them a super special secret. You’d be stunned if you knew what it was, but I’ll make them promise not to tell you. They’ll pinky swear — and so there’s no chance they’ll break the promise. You’ll be the only one who doesn’t know the secret. So, ya know. Follow the category.
JANE SCHOENBRUN’S I SAW THE TV GLOW
WHAT IT IS.
A spoiler-free description of the movie.
A classmate introduces Owen to a mysterious late-night TV show.
IF YOU LIKE.
If you like these things, then you’ll like the film.
▶ Planetariums. There’s a planetarium in the film. But also, the whole of it feels like watching a planetarium.
▶ Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or Are You Afraid of the Dark? And Charmed. Any campy series you found terrifying as a kid.
▶ Allegory. When what’s happening on screen represents something else. It’s literary. It makes you feel smarter.
MY TAKE.
What I liked about it.
I remember watching Jane Schoenbrun's 2021 feature debut, We're All Going to the World's Fair, and thinking: I can’t wait to see what they do next.
With "I Saw the TV Glow", Schoenbrun cements themselves as a singular filmmaker in the industry. One of the most imaginative and competent out there, by my guess.
In their sophomore effort, Schoenbrun’s story makes clever use of nostalgia and camp as a Trojan horse for one of the most incisive motifs I can remember seeing in a recent film.
The unapologetically moody script reads authentic, in no small part due to spectacular performances from Jack Haven and Justice Smith. Each shoulders a heavy load to bring the film’s relatively heady concept to bear, and both deserve much credit for its success.
Beyond the performances, this film has much to admire aesthetically. Breathtaking wide shots of commonplace settings like bleachers beside a high school football field. Neon, glowing, live-wire colorways contrast with pitch-black darkness. Few filmmakers today work so beautifully with low-light compositions.
Also on full display is Schoenbrun’s proclivity for recurring symbolism and striking practical imagery. A suburban street covered in intricate chalk art. An old TV set engulfed in flames. A wailing singer submersed in foggy blue lights.
These kinds of visual symbols are essential to Schoenbrun’s brand of storytelling. And rather than feeling indulgent, they concentrate the story into something more powerful, potent. These choices set the stage for a memorable, devastating third act.
There’s so much to love about “I Saw the TV Glow”. It’s a beautiful mess of camp, moodiness, nostalgia, and visceral storytelling. I could probably spend the rest of my life uncovering little things I loved about this film to write about.
Of course, spending the rest of my life writing about a single film would be asinine. I suspect many of you would stop reading if I refused to write about anything else. So instead, I’ll leave you with this parting thought:
Schoenbrun has now consistently shown themselves capable of delivering inescapable atmosphere in their films. The way you might recall feeling the first time you watched David Lynch films like Blue Velvet. Though you’ll be far less confused throughout the runtime of I Saw the TV Glow.
These are the sort of films that swallow us whole. The films that provide a medium or language we can use to better understand ourselves and others. The films most capable of entertaining us deeply.
Enjoy the film.
OH, NEAT.
A fact or two about the production that makes you say “oh, neat”.
▶ In the days of the early internet, it wasn’t uncommon to be told not to film characters gazing at a screen — it’s boring. In contrast, Jane Schoenbrun finds the aesthetics of watching to be quite cinematic. In their words: ”The human face, that’s one of the most amazing things you could film. [The act of] watching is so expressive, and so mysterious.”
▶ Jane Schoenbrun refers to I Saw the TV Glow as their egg-crack film — the trans community term for the moment one realizes they are trans. They had come out to a few crew members before the wrap party, when their seventeen-year-old lead actor read their tarot cards and told them to 'embrace their feminine side.' They chose their new name on the day they needed to lock the credits.
THE QUOTE.
One great line of dialogue from the film.
It’s not fair man. Why does the winter have to be so cold that you can’t eat ice cream during the winter?
See you next week!
Blake

1 I’m kidding. This feels a bit cruel. Did you really consider doing that? Man, I thought you were better than that.
2 https://letterboxd.com/journal/jane-schoenbrun-i-saw-the-tv-glow-interview/
3 https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/jane-schoenbrun-finds-horror-close-to-home