December 27, 2024
Big Gay Movie Roundup: 13 Notable Films from 2024
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 16 MIN.
I Saw the TV Glow
Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun follows up on "We're All Going to the World's Fair" with a film that's part fantasy, part trans metaphor, and part love letter to genre TV fandom. High school besties Maddy (Bigette Lundy-Paine) and Owen (Justice Smith) are an unlikely pair: She's street smart and a little jaded, while he's shy and a bit awkward. They bond over stealthy midnight viewings of a sci-fi series called "The Pink Opaque," a "Buffy"-esque drama about two telepathically linked youngsters fighting off a menacing entity called Mr. Melancholy.
The teenagers' lives are melancholy enough, with Maddy being battered by her stepfather and the anxious Owen feeling restricted by his own parents, but "The Pink Opaque" helps them navigate the pains and perils of high school. Years later, when they reconnect, things are not the same between them any longer, and that includes "The Pink Opaque," which Owen has started rewatching – and into which Maddy has somehow been transported, spending decades trapped in its fictional universe. Anyone who's been enraptured by a TV show ("The X Files," "Firefly," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") will recognize the blend of affection and exasperation that goes with finding a sympathetic vibe in genre fiction, but Schoenbrun elevates the movie from coming-of-age territory to supernatural thriller with the help of two talented leads.
"I Saw the TV Glow" is streaming at Peacock.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
