This year, we had plenty of movies come out about plenty of different things but the one that stuck out the most to me was the movie ‘I saw the TV Glow’. The cinematography, music, lighting, acting, and overall vibe was great, but many people disagreed. This movie was quite literally the definition of “you either love it, or you hate it”. The movie had a majority of people giving it either 1 star or 5 stars, overall it got an 84% on rotten tomatoes. So here is my thoughts on this complicated movie
Why were the reviews all over the place?
This movie was special, although it did have a plot, it wasn’t exactly following the basic plot structure of Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. In this movie you couldn’t exactly tell where the climax was and there really wasn’t a resolution it just sort of ended on a plot twist. Despite this different approach on writing It was still very interesting. I also believe this movie really wasn’t for everyone, it was for more of a select group of people. Its like an oppositional movie. The movie had a sort of eerie aura. Throughout the entire movie, you could tell something wasn’t exactly right. It had a nostalgic feel, which made sense due to the main plot. This movie was considered a horror movie although it wasn’t very scary, it just had a few disturbing scenes, similar to the old Goosebumps show. I believe this movie was just a niche film, you either love it or you hate it.
What is this movie about?
This movie is about a young boy named Owen who makes a new friend over a late night TV show, called the pink opaque. Two years later his friend, Maddy, vanishes. Coincidentally, the pink opaque had been cancelled that same month. Owen continues to watch this supernatural TV show on old recorded tapes until 8 years later, Maddy returns, but something is different about her. Owen needs to know what happened, even if it goes against everything he believes in.
Is there a deeper meaning behind this movie?
This movie can have several interpretations. Some people believe its about how sometimes people just need to find an escape, whether that be in TV and movies or other things. Others believe its about what happens when you don’t try and take a part in your own life; not bothering to try and change things for the better. Some may believe its simply about nostalgia and how everything seemed better as a kid, bn my opinion, I believe the movie is an allegory to how scary it may be to be true to yourself, but how terrifying it is to trap yourself as something you aren’t. This movie shows Owen finding comfort in a TV show, watching it almost daily to try and distract himself from all his problems when all that does is postpone his issues and worsen them. It shows how there can be nothing scarier than thinking your too late to find yourself and live how you truly want to, but of course this all up to the viewers to interpret.
Who all is in this movie?
Though this movie didn’t seem to get much promo it had many popular actors and artists working on it. This movie stars Justice smith (Jurassic world: fallen kingdom, all the bright places, dungeons and thieves, Pokémon detective Pikachu), and Phoebe Bridgers (a popular American singer-song writer). The music in this movie was composed by Alex G (An American musician)
My thoughts/review
As I previously said this movie really was only for certain people, not everybody would like it. This movie wasn’t just a simple movie, this isn’t one of those movies you watch, say it was great, and move on. This film was one that you really have to think about after watching to truly understand the movie. In my opinion: this movie was amazing. The cinematography was beautiful and they always seemed to stick to a specific color pallet with the lighting. Although the movie was slightly disturbing it was also a bit comforting. I’d rate this movie 9/10 stars, just because it didn’t really have a resolution. I would definitely recommend this movie, especially to people who may be interested in direction or getting into filmography, But this movie is rated Pg-13 so don’t forget to ask your parents before you watch!
