andres gama

so bad in a good way

first time writing a fr review in a while but here goes the screen trilogy strikes again, and this time there’s a lot of improvement, but also a lot of confusion. i saw the tv glow takes place in the point of someone’s life where they know the difficulties life brings and the strengths they have, but it takes a twist on the usual coming-of-age formula, opting for a more psychotic approach. owen is aware he is growing up and witnesses his friend accept it and accept her reality as a queer person while he is still trapped within his own reality with no escape. my issue comes with how the film shows this theme of queerness and reality. the typical viewer would not understand what this movie is about through a casual watch. the only reason i knew about the transgender allegory was because i had prior knowledge about the film, and, while not a lot, enough to know that owen knew he wanted to be someone else but couldn’t. the realizations kick in and he is looking for alternate realities, or a way out of it, with none in sight. i watched were all going to the worlds fair a while ago, and i can say this is a massive improvement. but things still were left uncovered or vague and this is where i introduce things the film did better, but also things it did the same that could still use work. things it did better: - the characters actually have personalities, good god. schoenbrun for some reason had the idea that we just knew what the girl in the other movie was thinking and wanted, but here owen actually shows development and traits that showcase how he differed from maddy in his coming of age experience- character development go offf- THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IS BEAUTIFUL. i know im kind of shitting on this movie but good lord was it so pretty to see. i was captivated by, if not the plot, the scenes and the lighting that the producers chose. absolutely gorgeous- thematic metaphors. i never really understood what the other film was about, but this one makes it a lot more clear and a lot more relatable now things that still needed a lot of improvement that it simply didn’t get - can we have more explanations to what’s going on? i know it’s meant to be abstract and whatnot, but films should still be enjoyable. you should still understand what’s going on, and people shouldn’t have to rely on an interview for that. like why does every review i read say “the trans allegory was beautiful” when that wasn’t mentioned at any point in the movie?- the plot could’ve used work. i enjoyed it enough, but i think it could’ve had more attention to detail without making it too hard to understand. clarity i guess is what i mean to say.- the metaphor for childlike innocence, scariness of growing up, and coming of age all being mixed together makes this sort of fucked up bubble that is hard to understand if you don’t really dig into it and connect the dots. this one is more understandable, since i can tell that was the intention. the whole having the tv inside you to show that your reality is still within and held in captivity, that’s a beautiful metaphor. however, and even after doing a bit of research to do this review, i still do NOT understand the point that maddy was trying to make at the end. i thought it was a metaphor for suicide and acceptance working hand in hand for her, but then i looked it up and nothing said anything about that. and the heart thing like huh. overall the movie concept is beautiful, and i think the way it was produced was masterclass. i just think more clarity and less abstract ideas could make it a hell of a lot more enjoyable, especially since this was marketed for a more teenage, queer audience, not for expert film makers who are analyzing every detail.

the movie itself was fine and the action was intense, but it did not feel realistic at all lol. it just felt like every character existed for max 5 mins and then got cut out of the plot for no apparent reason minus to give lil bro the smallest bit of development.

would be a 5/5 if the ending weren’t awkward asl