🎟 Available to watch now at theaters like Regal and AMC
📍 SIFF Cinema Uptown: 511 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle
📆 Friday, May 24th – Thursday, May 30th
🎬 View all showtimes
📍 Northwest Film Forum: 1515 12th Ave, Seattle
📆 Wednesday, June 12th – Sunday, June 16th
🎬 View all showtimes
The year’s most exciting film so far is also one of the most original. Following their 2021 cult hit We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, non-binary writer/director Jane Schoenbrun is back with another woozy mindf*ck of a film… and this time with a nice, sizable A24 budget. In it, two 1990s teens find solace and madness in a Buffy/Goosebumps/Are You Afraid of the Dark-type television show called The Pink Opaque. As the younger Owen ages and the older Maddy yearns for a way out of their suburban hellscape, the two take different paths in search of new personas… or lack thereof.
Described by the filmmaker as an “egg-crack” of a movie, TV Glow is not just a glimpse at the ecstasies and agonies of media obsession; it’s also a shockingly lonely cry about those who are unwilling or unable to open themselves up to new experiences, forever chasing highs long since gone and needlessly grasping onto social identities forced upon them. Justice Smith, excellent with both genre fare (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) and daring, chest-beating drama (MCC Theater’s Yen), grounds the story’s metaphor-heavy weight in a jittery, soulful piece of performance, while Brigitte Lundy-Paine (Bill & Ted Face the Music) and the already legendary soundtrack keep the dread thrumming along until you as an audience member crumple into a heap.
Those looking for a jump scare-filled horror show may not be in for the film’s aching patience, but I urge you to give yourself over to this film’s hypnotic glow. You’ll be talking about it all year.
💌 Be Our Pen Pal! Find out what’s happening in Seattle by subscribing to our newsletter.
