“I Saw the TV Glow” impressed me with its visuals but left me wanting more from its uncommitted story. 

The coming-of-age, fantasy horror film follows Owen (Justice Smith, Ian Foreman as Young Owen) as he meets Maddy (Jack Haven), a girl a few grades above him. Maddy introduces Owen to a TV show called “The Pink Opaque.” 

Together, the duo become increasingly obsessed with the show as they discover who they are as people, regarding both personality and sexuality. 

It was nice to see Smith and Foreman portray two sides of the same character. 

Foreman’s portrayal of Young Owen comes off as an imitation of Smith’s portrayal of Owen. There are also moments, however, where Foreman acts different to Smith, and both Owens feel unique. 

Haven does a good job with her edgy and reclusive performance as Maddy, but I find it to be less impressive when compared to Smith and Foreman’s performances. 

What makes “I Saw the TV Glow” stand out is its filmmaking. There are so many impressive camera techniques used throughout the film and shots that stay in your mind long after the film’s hour and 40-minute runtime ends. 

The two strongest examples were the ice cream truck billowing out purple smoke and the TV burning in Maddy’s backyard. 

Having a limited cast of characters and actors allows things to feel like the work of a college student in a production class, and I mean that as a compliment. 

However, filmmaking only grants you so much grace when the story isn’t committed to one thing. 

While the film’s story mostly revolves around Owen and Maddy realizing what makes them unique and discovering who they are as people, there is a large underlying theme of sexuality, namely that of the LGBTQ community. 

Both characters mention how they don’t feel like themselves and struggle to explain their sexual preferences often through the film. 

One example of this when Maddy asks Owen if he likes girls or boys and he responds saying, “I think I like TV shows.” 

From this line of dialogue on, the movie shifts more towards the angle of time running out as we all inch closer to death, making it seem as if there is no time to live. 

The film tries to send an uplifting message by having Maddy disappear, and Owen move on from “The Pink Opaque” by focusing on his own life as he gets older and trying to live his life, so much so that the film outright says “There is still time” in sidewalk chalk during one scene. 

Owen’s perspective gets further developed as he tries to rewatch the show, but it feels dull and different just like how as we get older things feel less vibrant and are remembered differently. 

The film then doubles back on this by reintroducing Maddy and having her explain the feeling of dying and being buried alive before clawing her way out of the grave and realizing who she truly is, going back to the LGBTQ metaphors. 

This is why the film feels uncommitted as it then continues to bounce between both the LGBTQ and time running out metaphors for the final 20 minutes or so of the film. 

It’s not bad to have both metaphors, but the film focuses too much on the metaphors rather than presenting any intriguing storyline, even to the point where the film abruptly ends without any true resolve to either metaphor. 

“I Saw the TV Glow” isn’t a bad film by any means and is, in fact, one of the better shot films I’ve seen, but its scrambled plot and metaphors make the film dull as if I were the one rewatching “The Pink Opaque.” 

Rating: 3/5 

Luke Brewer can be reached at 581-2812 or at lsbrewer@eiu.edu.