I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Had to watch this a second time before logging to make sure I understood the film. I loved it the first time around, but the ending took me by surprise. On rewatch, knowing the ending it's building to created a powerfully ethereal viewing experience.

This film is for the losers that spent their young adult life trying to escape the horrors of reality by projecting themselves onto media.

This film is for the losers who, without proper real-world role models, struggled with figuring out their identity. Not just who they are, but what they are, why they are, and how to grow the "are" they subconsciously want to be.

This film is for the losers who, as a child, felt everything in the media you latched onto was hyper real, exaggerated, but you eventually discover you've been blinded by nostalgia. That's when reality hits, causing you to struggle to process the horrors it entails.

I Saw the TV Glow perfectly captures the empty sensation that gnaws at you, slowly and methodically, when you feel like you can't be yourself; when your very skin is constricting you in a world already operating like a pressure cooker. Then it builds to the ending of Owen opening up to themselves, alone in a public restroom, and they finally feel happy.

All that's left is for them to open up to others.

5/5