This coming-of age story is not your average film. It’s a psychological thriller, minus jump scares, dealing with a young teen’s self-identity and sexual discovery. He get help from an older high school classmate who is obsessed with a mysterious paranormal TV Show called The Pink Opaque.
Awkward teen, Owen (Justice Smith), befriends another older student, Maddy (Brigitte Lundy-Paine) who exposes the young teen to the weekly late night Saturday show which borders on the supernatural. Owen, too, becomes obsessed and lies to his parents about having sleepovers with a different school friend so he and Maddy can watch the show together. Maddy even videotaped episodes for Owen so he wouldn’t miss a thing.
Writer/Director Jane Schoenbrun (they/them) wrote the script after success with We’re All Going to the World’s Fair which premiered at Sundance while emerging as trans. Emma Stone actually became one of the producers of this film. Schoenbrun was candid and funny talking about a Zoom meeting with Stone during a Q&A at the Music Box Theatre Chicago during the Chicago Critics Film Festival.
Growing up, Schoenbrun was hooked on watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Nickelodeon Saturday night block of shows which were a major inspiration for this project. Schoenbrun also talked about the importance of the music, seeking out new artists to come up with 17 original songs for the soundtrack.
Schoenbrun explores the repression and depression Owen felt because his Mom became ill and died. And Owen’s father (Fred Durst) was totally insensitive, castigating his son for liking the Pink Opaque show his Dad thought was only for girls.
Owen connects with the sullen and morose Maddy, sharing their dreams and similar feelings about life, sexuality and friendship. Shortly after The Pink Opaque series is cancelled, Maddy asks Owen join her on a journey to live in a Pink Opaque world and then suddenly disappears. Owen freaks out looking for her and Schoenbrun symbolically creates haunting images of her TV burning from the inside out. There are a lot of dark images to relay a forboding atmosphere for poor Owen who is just trying to find his way.
Loss of Maddy, Mom and the TV show leave Owen lonely and miserable and he gives up on his dreams. As time passes, he ends up working a mundane job at a Dave and Busters/Chuck E. Cheese type establishment. Downtrodden and uninspired, Owen cuts a hole in his chest finding the glow from a TV instead of his beating heart. Remarkably, Owen is neither shocked nor disturbed by it. The message is self-acceptance that has to come from deep inside, and, by the conclusion, Owen begins his own transition.
This is one strange film based on Schoenbrun’s own experience going through trans and creative filmmaking challenges, but also darkly. Teen angst is explored in every sense of the word. We all live in the glow of the internet and a TV screen and Schoenbrun reminds us that the lines between reality and fantasy can become blurry. Was it REALLY just a TV show?
A24 1 hour 40 minutes PG-13
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