They did an episode of The A24 podcast that came out today and they indicated that part three was supposed to be a TV show but they couldn't get it picked up so they're reworking it into a novel. I'm super curious, but certainly would have liked to see the TV show!
I went in blind not knowing what to expect and was sobbing by the end. I’ve never felt so understood by a piece of art before. I think this might be my favorite film of all time. ❤❤❤
I started sobbing when the movie began and didn't stop until Conner O'Malley showed up. I laughed out loud since I recognized him, and then immediately went back to sobbing. What a film.
i went in knowing nothing about this movie. i remember one specific shot about halfway through that made everything click for me. from that moment onward i was blown away by the visceral grief and joy it brought out of me. i’ve never experienced a piece of art that echoed my own story like this. it left me sobbing. i’m so thankful for the people in my life who saw me and encouraged me to become my authentic self
What was the scene (careful with spoilers for others, but ive seen the film)? Im genuinely curious because it didnt click for me till the very end at the birthday party.
I can only imagine how resonant this film must be for trans people. As someone who occasionally grieves for the life I was too afraid to live, this movie hit me right in the gut.
Owen reminds me a lot of my little brother , kind of soft spoken and a little humorous and very very scared of taking chances . The ending broke my heart and I can’t get over it
I’m so upset I can’t go and watch the pink opaque. I know it only looks as good as it does because the limited scenes we saw had a movie budget behind them but the movie did such a good job of making it look so cool to watch
I feel like people shouldn't watch this interview before seeing the movie! Now that I've seen it I can't stop listening to Jane talk about it. They were born 3 days before me and my experiences are so similar to theirs, from Buffy to late transition. This movie was incredible and I look forward to more from Jane :)
I find it interesting how the film ends considering Buffy got cancelled but was picked up for two more seasons on a different network with Buffy literally crawling out of her grave. Also want to say that I understood the trans and queer themes (maybe ace too?) but feel like it also spoke strongly to the more universal themes of reconnecting with things that we experienced easier in childhood.
Some people found this movie confusing, so here's a somewhat lengthy spoiler interpretation of the film I posted elsewhere: "Ok having watched it a second time, I think the idea behind the magical realism element is that it's actually happening, instead of it being in his head, while the symbolism and metaphor in those magical and seemingly unreal elements are intended for the audience exclusively. This is clever because it's a kind of inversion which suggests that it is actually the Pink Opaque which is the real world, the one where Owen and Maddie belong. By contrast, the world in which most of the film takes place and where Owen lives his life as a male, the world he's afraid to leave, is the "midnight realm," the false reality where he's trapped. What appears at first to be allegorical and symbolic in the film is what is actually what's true, while the real world that we initially take to be literal and actual becomes what is false and imagined. The magical elements are those instances where the true reality of the Pink Opaque bleeds through into the false reality of the midnight realm. Maddie alludes to this in the opening scene where she points out that election day is "special" because the school is "transformed." What is ordinary and conventional is just an illusion which hides a fantastic reality behind it where everything is what it is truly meant to be. Maddie explains that the Pink Opaque feels more real than her real life, and as it turns out, it *is* more real than her real life. It's a lovely idea, in my opinion, and this inversion is the central dramatic conceit of the story. Owen is, in reality, the person he fantasizes about being. He is actually Isobel from the show, but he doesn't have the courage to believe it and act on it because he thinks that's "kid's stuff." He doesn't know and is too frightened to accept that the show is what's real. Mr. Melancholy tells him that the poison will make him forget the real world, which is the world of the Pink Opaque, and that's just what happens to him. He will even forget that in that very real world of the Pink Opaque, he's dying. In the show, both characters were buried and their hearts stolen, but they have a psychic link which enables them to defeat every episode's monster. They are each other's "imaginary friend" and the psychic plane in which they communicate is the astral version of the sleepaway camp where they met. This is an allegorical way of describing the link they have by way of both being outsiders and sexual minorities, each being pressured to conform to conventional society around them and adopt (or be "buried" by) the prefabricated identities and life paths it supplies. But they couldn't defeat this monster, the "big bad," because the poison made Owen forget who he really was. He says he learned to "be a man" and a "productive member of society," and so the psychic link was lost and there could never be a sixth season. Maddie tells him in the early part of the film to "never apologize," but of course, in the final scene, he's apologizing to everyone. It's a much more affecting film if you understand this going into it, in opinion. Totally hit me in the feels. Honestly, I'm starting to think this is the best film which has come out this year so far."
I think this interview opened my eyes abt the intentions for the film. While i still have beef with it bc i didnt like its anti-conclusion, i get where schoenbrun is coming from and what they wanted to convey to the audience. The context helps! Sadly i will never ever rewatch this movie bc it made me have a dissociative episode and i almost crashed my car leaving the theater :(
The ending of the film is important. It's not meant to be a conclusion. Owen is still suffocating, and they know the way out. It's just too scary. The only person cancelling The Pink Opaque is Owen. They can start season 6 whenever they want to, but they have to do something very scary first. Maybe everything will be okay, and maybe it won't. I hope Isabelle gets out of the Midnight Realm, but not everybody does.
Great interview! Thank you Jane for this masterpiece. I felt the same about Buffy and this feels kind of like the first time I saw beetlejuice or Juno. Films that spoke to my becoming. Time for part two. 😉 💜💚
My biggest regret will always be how I never saw this movie in theaters. Then again, considering how hard I was sobbing at the end, that might have been for the best 😅
@celery8059 idk you hear all these stories about people laughing at the Substance or in sensitive movies like these, but I've never seen it happen irl and I saw both movies in cinemas. These things seem quite rare to me. I think the internet is much more negative than real life. (Though I am not American. I have heard that in america it is socially acceptable to laugh/clap etc during a movie, so maybe experiences like this just don't happen to me because in my country the norm is to be dead silent).
I just saw it today. It is odd, to say the least. Some David Lynch elements made me wonder how close to reality Owen was. Especially later on in the film. Might need to see it again.
I know this movie is very special to some people, and I am genuinely happy for them. Personally, I thought this was one of the worst films I have ever watched in my entire life (and I'm in my 60s). I felt it was poorly written, dull, and tedious.
A big connection people today have with it is the feeling of only enjoying life though art and not through actual life. Owen at the end reveals his heart has been replaced by media, and he only shows himself to himself in the mirror in quiet moments. He is completely closed off from the world, emotionally. This is a feeling a lot of young people have already because the future is looking very dire politically and environmentally. And their personal futures are looking dead before having begun. So unless you have had a time in life where you spent every working day just existing so you could go home and indulge in escapist media or drugs, this movie won't possibly resonate with you.
Glowerworm.....Exactly what part of "in my 60s" did you not understand. Working at a tedious job all day just to come home "relax" in various ways is something I can assure you I understand only about a million times better than you. I'm glad people enjoyed this film, but really.....it was a horrid piece of crap. And I am totally trans supportive. It was just a wretched movie.
i wish we wouldn't call it "queer". it feels derogative. i would much prefer calling ourselves "interesting", and everyone else "dull". now i want jane to do a postmodern sailor moon adaptation. that would be rad.
So glad I saw this interview . Been meaning to see this at local theater but this interview told me wait till it’s on one of my streaming subscriptions.
@@rosariojailene Godzilla 1985 made me sob for first time at a movie . Godzilla suicides by walking into a volcano ! I thought this was the end of a great saga. I was not up on him being lave proof till the sequels .
The beauty of cinema. I can tell myself and this director would have LITTLE in common with personal beliefs, but I can appreciate a good movie when I see one. Cinema gives us a chance to all connect regardless of what views we hold, who we vote for, or what we do in our free time.
@@TrashDragon89The director very explicitly says that this movie is closely related to experiences they had growing up in the suburbs as a trans and queer person. Try and put 2 and 2 together
Did he get punched in the eyes or is that make up? Dude looks like he was either beaten or staring at a computer screen in dark room never seeing the sun light
sorry to say but the movie blows. cool visuals and music. but wayyyy to much suspense over meaningless dialogue. it seems intentionally obscure to make it seem like there's a meaning -- but the whole thing is fluff. shame -- would have been a good opportunity to share the humanity of a queer experience (something i'm not familiar with and didn't learn anything about here)
I thought they were going to do a spin at the end that the father killed the daughter or that she committed suicide and Owen buried her. Some crazy twist but no. Saw it in theaters and it would get so loud for no reason and the monologuing.
After seeing it, it's not a plot-driven story, it's not about suspense, it's about the experience of these two people being affected by this TV show. A reviewer on Letterboxd said the film is about “how nostalgia can be both an escape and a prison.” I really relate to this. Just my take of course!
I would ask you to consider that maybe the movie is not being obscure to seem meaningful, but that the meaning is obscured to you exactly because you don't know much about queerness? I don't think every film about queerness needs to explain what it is to be queer to you. This film has been highly highly resonant with many queer people, and part of that is because it doesn't spend time explaining what it is to be queer. It instead emotionally and visually reflects so much that a portion of its audience is looking to better understand in themselves. There are a large number of films that make for a better introduction to queer cinema, certainly. I might recommend Carol, or Dog Day Afternoon, or Brokeback Mountain, or Pain and Glory. All of these are great films that examine queerness from a perspective that would probably be more accessible, if that is what you're seeking.
I saw it tonight and I can tell you the movie is telling a story in a language you may not speak. A lot of the scenes that you might or might not recognize as being part of the film's trans theme kind of weave together into this beat-to-beat emotional narrative I think it might only be possible to experience if you're someone who did grow up trans and repressing it. This film is really unique in that it almost feels like the essence of it, the main narrative thread, exists offscreen in the space between the audience and the screen itself, but only if you're able to connect with it in that way.
@@TrashDragon89, not just in terms of healthcare, but in terms of the social constructions like "trans" pedagogy, marketing, evangelism, etc. That didn't even exist in the time when the movie is set. The movie is a product of those things.
Two things:
-The horror of not knowing what's real
-The horror of lost opportunity
I Saw the TV Glow is becoming my pink opaque i'm so obsessed with this fucking movie.
No, literally. i just saw it today and I just have to watch every interview about it now
@@Gloria_Cook How'd you get an early screener?
@@PhenixhasrisenREAL I live in NYC and I get invited to early screenings/Q&As through a group here. Sorry for bragging!
@@Gloria_Cook I live in LA and also do, i've been trying to get into one for this movie but no luck.
@@PhenixhasrisenREAL at least it’ll be in theaters near you for the limited release rather than having to wait for the wide!
Jane is so well articulate
very intelligent and talented
literally. Im just in awe of how fluently they describe their artistic vision and process.
The way they’ve described their second movie as part of a TRILOGY has me so hyped! I can’t wait to watch it over and over again!
They did an episode of The A24 podcast that came out today and they indicated that part three was supposed to be a TV show but they couldn't get it picked up so they're reworking it into a novel. I'm super curious, but certainly would have liked to see the TV show!
@@BDazzle77what was part one?
@@ItsYaBoy_Drake It's a movie called We're All Going to the World's Fair. It was their first film and a very different (but still very good!) movie.
I went in blind not knowing what to expect and was sobbing by the end. I’ve never felt so understood by a piece of art before. I think this might be my favorite film of all time. ❤❤❤
same. felt so seen
Same.
I started sobbing when the movie began and didn't stop until Conner O'Malley showed up. I laughed out loud since I recognized him, and then immediately went back to sobbing. What a film.
i went in knowing nothing about this movie. i remember one specific shot about halfway through that made everything click for me. from that moment onward i was blown away by the visceral grief and joy it brought out of me. i’ve never experienced a piece of art that echoed my own story like this. it left me sobbing. i’m so thankful for the people in my life who saw me and encouraged me to become my authentic self
What was the scene (careful with spoilers for others, but ive seen the film)? Im genuinely curious because it didnt click for me till the very end at the birthday party.
@@smilleur i had clues leading up to it, but the scene that broke me was when they were at the planetarium
I can only imagine how resonant this film must be for trans people. As someone who occasionally grieves for the life I was too afraid to live, this movie hit me right in the gut.
Owen reminds me a lot of my little brother , kind of soft spoken and a little humorous and very very scared of taking chances . The ending broke my heart and I can’t get over it
I’m so upset I can’t go and watch the pink opaque. I know it only looks as good as it does because the limited scenes we saw had a movie budget behind them but the movie did such a good job of making it look so cool to watch
I feel like people shouldn't watch this interview before seeing the movie!
Now that I've seen it I can't stop listening to Jane talk about it. They were born 3 days before me and my experiences are so similar to theirs, from Buffy to late transition. This movie was incredible and I look forward to more from Jane :)
I'm still thinking about this movie
I just ordered the blu ray so I can show literally every single person I know
Jane's warm and down to earth as fuck. Wanna be her friend. One of my new heroes
Saw their face and “I Saw the TV Glow” and immediately almost started crying
I find it interesting how the film ends considering Buffy got cancelled but was picked up for two more seasons on a different network with Buffy literally crawling out of her grave.
Also want to say that I understood the trans and queer themes (maybe ace too?) but feel like it also spoke strongly to the more universal themes of reconnecting with things that we experienced easier in childhood.
Some people found this movie confusing, so here's a somewhat lengthy spoiler interpretation of the film I posted elsewhere:
"Ok having watched it a second time, I think the idea behind the magical realism element is that it's actually happening, instead of it being in his head, while the symbolism and metaphor in those magical and seemingly unreal elements are intended for the audience exclusively.
This is clever because it's a kind of inversion which suggests that it is actually the Pink Opaque which is the real world, the one where Owen and Maddie belong. By contrast, the world in which most of the film takes place and where Owen lives his life as a male, the world he's afraid to leave, is the "midnight realm," the false reality where he's trapped.
What appears at first to be allegorical and symbolic in the film is what is actually what's true, while the real world that we initially take to be literal and actual becomes what is false and imagined. The magical elements are those instances where the true reality of the Pink Opaque bleeds through into the false reality of the midnight realm. Maddie alludes to this in the opening scene where she points out that election day is "special" because the school is "transformed." What is ordinary and conventional is just an illusion which hides a fantastic reality behind it where everything is what it is truly meant to be. Maddie explains that the Pink Opaque feels more real than her real life, and as it turns out, it *is* more real than her real life.
It's a lovely idea, in my opinion, and this inversion is the central dramatic conceit of the story. Owen is, in reality, the person he fantasizes about being. He is actually Isobel from the show, but he doesn't have the courage to believe it and act on it because he thinks that's "kid's stuff." He doesn't know and is too frightened to accept that the show is what's real.
Mr. Melancholy tells him that the poison will make him forget the real world, which is the world of the Pink Opaque, and that's just what happens to him. He will even forget that in that very real world of the Pink Opaque, he's dying. In the show, both characters were buried and their hearts stolen, but they have a psychic link which enables them to defeat every episode's monster. They are each other's "imaginary friend" and the psychic plane in which they communicate is the astral version of the sleepaway camp where they met. This is an allegorical way of describing the link they have by way of both being outsiders and sexual minorities, each being pressured to conform to conventional society around them and adopt (or be "buried" by) the prefabricated identities and life paths it supplies.
But they couldn't defeat this monster, the "big bad," because the poison made Owen forget who he really was. He says he learned to "be a man" and a "productive member of society," and so the psychic link was lost and there could never be a sixth season. Maddie tells him in the early part of the film to "never apologize," but of course, in the final scene, he's apologizing to everyone.
It's a much more affecting film if you understand this going into it, in opinion. Totally hit me in the feels. Honestly, I'm starting to think this is the best film which has come out this year so far."
One the best movies I’ve ever seen
my TV show was The X-Files and my identity was MulderScully
mine was twin peaks! for some reason i just really liked david duchovny as a woman :')
Season 6 of X-Files was kinda mid tho
Amazing interview. Loved this film so much. Bravo, Jane. This is a masterpiece
I saw this movie last night in Berlin and was very moved. I look forward to watching it again!
happy to see this movie succeeding. Hoping to see more from her :)
This is my new favorite movie of all time
Wonderful interview
I think this interview opened my eyes abt the intentions for the film. While i still have beef with it bc i didnt like its anti-conclusion, i get where schoenbrun is coming from and what they wanted to convey to the audience. The context helps! Sadly i will never ever rewatch this movie bc it made me have a dissociative episode and i almost crashed my car leaving the theater :(
LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
So sorry that happened! Hope you are doing okay.
The ending of the film is important. It's not meant to be a conclusion. Owen is still suffocating, and they know the way out. It's just too scary. The only person cancelling The Pink Opaque is Owen. They can start season 6 whenever they want to, but they have to do something very scary first. Maybe everything will be okay, and maybe it won't. I hope Isabelle gets out of the Midnight Realm, but not everybody does.
watched it at home, when it was done my partner and I talked a bit and watched it again. rewarding
@Tonestire what's funny?
Great interview! Thank you Jane for this masterpiece. I felt the same about Buffy and this feels kind of like the first time I saw beetlejuice or Juno. Films that spoke to my becoming. Time for part two. 😉 💜💚
Can’t wait for part three!
My biggest regret will always be how I never saw this movie in theaters.
Then again, considering how hard I was sobbing at the end, that might have been for the best 😅
I saw someone’s TikTok about how at the end of the film the audience erupted into laughter. I’m glad we didn’t see it in theaters
@celery8059 idk you hear all these stories about people laughing at the Substance or in sensitive movies like these, but I've never seen it happen irl and I saw both movies in cinemas. These things seem quite rare to me. I think the internet is much more negative than real life.
(Though I am not American. I have heard that in america it is socially acceptable to laugh/clap etc during a movie, so maybe experiences like this just don't happen to me because in my country the norm is to be dead silent).
@@ceilingfanenthusiast6041 good to know it’s not common !
Can anyone make out what the words on Jane's shirt reads?
It just looks like a texture to me?
@@jackdavincithat's what I see too
TRILOGY
Great interview!
I just saw it today. It is odd, to say the least. Some David Lynch elements made me wonder how close to reality Owen was. Especially later on in the film. Might need to see it again.
Now if Jane had said Aeon Flux was what they watched, I could relate.
This movie was phenomenal!!!!!!
My fav movie
I know this movie is very special to some people, and I am genuinely happy for them. Personally, I thought this was one of the worst films I have ever watched in my entire life (and I'm in my 60s). I felt it was poorly written, dull, and tedious.
A big connection people today have with it is the feeling of only enjoying life though art and not through actual life. Owen at the end reveals his heart has been replaced by media, and he only shows himself to himself in the mirror in quiet moments. He is completely closed off from the world, emotionally.
This is a feeling a lot of young people have already because the future is looking very dire politically and environmentally. And their personal futures are looking dead before having begun.
So unless you have had a time in life where you spent every working day just existing so you could go home and indulge in escapist media or drugs, this movie won't possibly resonate with you.
Glowerworm.....Exactly what part of "in my 60s" did you not understand. Working at a tedious job all day just to come home "relax" in various ways is something I can assure you I understand only about a million times better than you. I'm glad people enjoyed this film, but really.....it was a horrid piece of crap. And I am totally trans supportive. It was just a wretched movie.
@@Dalekzilla enjoying yourself at home with some TV is not the same as ONLY enjoying yourself when you're watching TV.
Shame you didn't like the movie
I loved this movie so much!
i thought pink opaque was giving buffy
Australian release date: 24 August - TF?!
Wow she's so sophisticated makes me appreciate the movie so much more hearing her perspective
best movie of 2024
Great movie!!
So excited for another film! She broke this one down so thoroughly!! She seems brilliant. Loved the film so much
He
@@truthwarrior7826 You guys r both wrong, their pronouns are they/them 😭😭
This interviewer seems like he didnt prepare ANY questions
I watched Buffy in its original run and I had no idea it was supposed to be for girls?
It wasn’t a show for me. Weirdly enough it was Mass Effect 2.
i wish we wouldn't call it "queer". it feels derogative. i would much prefer calling ourselves "interesting", and everyone else "dull".
now i want jane to do a postmodern sailor moon adaptation. that would be rad.
So glad I saw this interview . Been meaning to see this at local theater but this interview told me wait till it’s on one of my streaming subscriptions.
Oh yeah i saw it in the the theatre and its the first movie thats ever made me sob
@@rosariojailene Godzilla 1985 made me sob for first time at a movie . Godzilla suicides by walking into a volcano ! I thought this was the end of a great saga.
I was not up on him being lave proof till the sequels .
@@gcaplan1 ahh i need to see that i should watch it soon
Jane rocks!
Worst movie by a24 but glad they give everyone a shot to tell a story.
The beauty of cinema.
I can tell myself and this director would have LITTLE in common with personal beliefs, but I can appreciate a good movie when I see one.
Cinema gives us a chance to all connect regardless of what views we hold, who we vote for, or what we do in our free time.
Umm go away pls
Get away
@@jovanjovicic6030 um…no, kiss my ass.
Wdym personal beliefs? They just talk about the movie
@@TrashDragon89The director very explicitly says that this movie is closely related to experiences they had growing up in the suburbs as a trans and queer person. Try and put 2 and 2 together
Did he get punched in the eyes or is that make up? Dude looks like he was either beaten or staring at a computer screen in dark room never seeing the sun light
sorry to say but the movie blows. cool visuals and music. but wayyyy to much suspense over meaningless dialogue. it seems intentionally obscure to make it seem like there's a meaning -- but the whole thing is fluff.
shame -- would have been a good opportunity to share the humanity of a queer experience (something i'm not familiar with and didn't learn anything about here)
I thought they were going to do a spin at the end that the father killed the daughter or that she committed suicide and Owen buried her. Some crazy twist but no. Saw it in theaters and it would get so loud for no reason and the monologuing.
After seeing it, it's not a plot-driven story, it's not about suspense, it's about the experience of these two people being affected by this TV show. A reviewer on Letterboxd said the film is about “how nostalgia can be both an escape and a prison.” I really relate to this. Just my take of course!
I would ask you to consider that maybe the movie is not being obscure to seem meaningful, but that the meaning is obscured to you exactly because you don't know much about queerness? I don't think every film about queerness needs to explain what it is to be queer to you. This film has been highly highly resonant with many queer people, and part of that is because it doesn't spend time explaining what it is to be queer. It instead emotionally and visually reflects so much that a portion of its audience is looking to better understand in themselves.
There are a large number of films that make for a better introduction to queer cinema, certainly. I might recommend Carol, or Dog Day Afternoon, or Brokeback Mountain, or Pain and Glory. All of these are great films that examine queerness from a perspective that would probably be more accessible, if that is what you're seeking.
I saw it tonight and I can tell you the movie is telling a story in a language you may not speak. A lot of the scenes that you might or might not recognize as being part of the film's trans theme kind of weave together into this beat-to-beat emotional narrative I think it might only be possible to experience if you're someone who did grow up trans and repressing it. This film is really unique in that it almost feels like the essence of it, the main narrative thread, exists offscreen in the space between the audience and the screen itself, but only if you're able to connect with it in that way.
@@BDazzle77 you can't compare those masterpieces to this trite film
It's a direct ripoff of the creepypasta Candle Cove. Syfy channel put it in their Channel Zero series.
I think you watched a different movie then lol
Queer identities? No thank you. Glad I watched 10 seconds of this before watching the film.
The film is not *about* that, though.
No politics in my war films! 😡
whatever. go my scarab
Being "trans/ nonbinary" didn't exist in the 1990s. What a stange idea for a movie. Maybe he is remaking 1984 where everything is reinvented?
Being trans has existed forever.
@@TrashDragon89, not in the way that it exists today.
@@purdysanchez if you mean trans healthcare, sure. but trans people have existed as long as humans have
@@TrashDragon89, not just in terms of healthcare, but in terms of the social constructions like "trans" pedagogy, marketing, evangelism, etc. That didn't even exist in the time when the movie is set. The movie is a product of those things.
*they
This movie sucked shit. The director looks exactly how I imagined they would
whatever. go my scarab
I appreciate you using the right pronouns here despite being a hater
Do trans people ever stop talking about their “journey of discovery?” He saw an opportunity to stand out and took it.
every human being is on a journey of discovery, what are you talking about
@@bexw that’s all trans people talk about it’s the new coming out of the closet.
TRILOGY