‘I Saw The TV Glow’ Review: Jane Schoenbrun Has Rendered An Entrancing, Richly Stylized Trans Masterpiece [Sundance]

Helen George, beloved for her role as Nurse Trixie Franklin in the hit BBC series Call the Midwife, recently stunned fans with a dazzling transformation for her role as Anna in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I at London's Dominion Theatre. Known for her signature long blonde locks as Nurse Trixie, the 39 year old actress showcased a remarkable change with a copper-toned updo for her portrayal of Anna in the musical set in 1860s Bangkok. Helen, who spoke about the challenges of singing in corsets and donning "enormous and heavy" dresses for the role, expressed enthusiasm for the intricate details of Anna's wardrobe, featuring Indian linen and ethnic twists.

Following his split from wife Chloe Madeley last year, James Haskell is said to be considering a stint in the Celebrity Big Brother house. The former rugby ace, 38, is allegedly in "advance talks" with TV bosses about appearing on the reality TV show, which is tipped to return to screens in March after last airing in 2018. Other stars rumoured to be taking part include Gary Goldsmith, Louis Walsh and Rebekah Vardy.

PARK CITY – Movies that stick with you long after you watch them are nothing new. There are literally thousands of examples in the history of cinema.

It starts innocuously enough. “Krazy House,” the English-language debut of Dutch filmmakers Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil, launches with a ‘90s family sitcom parody that ribs their cheese and cringe.

As the “peak TV” wave begins to crest, artists are again realizing that not every book needs adaptation as a miniseries. There’s value in the concision and prioritization forced by the feature format.

At the height of their failure, every day was Altamont for the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the San Francisco outfit founded in 1990 by Anton Newcombe, the Klaus Kinski of psychedelic rock. Just in time for this 20th anniversary overhaul of Ondi Timoner’s breakthrough documentary, the BJM were back in the news as recently as November 2023, when the first night of an Australian tour ended in a riot. That the riot was confined to the stage, and played out in front of a dumbfounded audience, is DIG! XX in a nutshell, a welcome return for a film that no less an authority than Dave Grohl calls, in a specially filmed new intro, “the greatest rock’n’roll documentary of all time”.

Elemental director Peter Sohn received an Oscar nomination on Tuesday morning for Best Animated Feature. Even with a story that’s very personal to him, Sohn’s first thoughts go towards his entire crew. “I think about all the work and passion and love that they put into the film, and it fills me up in a way that is very emotional.”

The first of many misdirects of perspective occurs in the opening shot of “In a Violent Nature.” The film opens with off-screen voices in discussion as the camera fixes its glance on what appears like a slipshod frame of a tree branch in the forest. It’s an image that feels haphazardly put together, and combined with the disembodied dialogue, filmmaker Chris Nash primes the audience to perceive the scene as something akin to a DIY YouTube video.

A Different Man tackles weighty themes of disability, identity, and transformation. Directed and written by Aaron Schimberg and starring Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson, what emerges is a complex portrayal of the clashes between outer perceptions and inner truths and makes valiant efforts towards inclusion to express a vital message about appearance and identity, but the execution can often feel tonally inconsistent, and overlong.Edward (Stan) is an aspiring actor with facial deformities (neurofibromatosis, to be exact), that subjects him to ridicule and isolation. Though self-conscious and lonely, Edward finds hope when he befriends Ingrid (Reinsve), his empathetic, playwright, next door neighbor. When presented with the possibility of normalcy through a risky reconstructive procedure, Edward pursues the chance to lead a life free from judgment and staring eyes. 

PARK CITY – There are multiple meanings to the title of Jesse Eisenberg’s latest directorial effort, “A Real Pain.” There is the pain that cousins Benji Kaplan (Eisenberg) and David Kaplan (Keiran Culkin) are experiencing over the passing of their beloved grandmother and there is the pain Benji is feeling over a horrifying incident in his cousin’s life. The most pressing example, however, is in David’s soul.

Kobi Libii’s work on the sadly short-lived Comedy Central show “The Opposition with Jordan Klepper” always tended toward the confrontational. By donning the guise of right-wing media provocateurs, he highlighted the absurd internal contradictions of ideological hardliners.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh and penned by David Koepp, the haunting psychological thriller Presence follows a fractured family as a mysterious supernatural force infiltrates their new home that has taken interest in their daughter Chloe. The film is written by David Koepp and stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, and Julia Fox.An unsettling presence permeates the home of Chris (Sullivan) and Ruth (Liu)  before they even move in. This supernatural entity is a witness to the family’s most vulnerable moments. It has a particular focus on the couple’s young daughter Chloe (Liang), who is always at odds with her mother and Brother Tyler (Maday). However, the young girl is in mourning because of her two girls, one of them her best friend Nadia, died recently.  

PARK CITY – How do you critique a movie about recovery? It’s not new territory. The storylines are often similar.

PARK CITY – Whatever your thoughts on Sam and Andy Zuchero’s “Love Me” few will dispute that for an independently financed film it’s a unique and creative achievement. At least a third of the movie is CG animation, another third is motion capture animation, and the final portion is live action.

This might be TMI for some people, but some famous men have been open about the size of their manhood in interviews over the years. Some of them have revealed they are packing while others weren’t afraid to admit that there’s not much there.

Neon is opening Origin on 130 screens and plans to expand the Ava DuVernay film, which premiered in Venice and had a excellent qualifying run in December.

In the space of just two movies, Jane Schoenbrun has established a completely unique aesthetic; from the opening credits alone, a riot of black light and neon pastels, it’s obvious that I Saw the TV Glow comes from the same mind that created the trippy 2021 cult hit We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. Anyone puzzled by the latter is advised to stay clear, since the follow-up is more vertiginously dizzying and twice as impressionistic, causing lots of head-scratching at its Sundance premiere. For those ready and willing to embrace its commitment to mood over logic, I Saw the TV Glow is a must-see, pairing the otherworldly ambience of Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink with the morbid surrealism of Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York. (If you know, you know.)

Guy Lodge Film Critic Pretty much anyone who grew up watching television has a vivid memory of that one show that, for a time at least, wouldn’t let go of their young imaginations — characters observed and fretted over like close friends, haunting images captured and embellished over time in the mind, cliffhanger endings that hit like harsh personal betrayals. A show doesn’t have to be especially good to resonate like this, provided it finds its viewers at the right place and time; eventually, most of us move on, that hard cultural grip giving away to the forgiving affection of nostalgia.

William Earl administrator Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s new film, “I Saw the TV Glow,” is set for a buzzy Sundance premiere, shrouded in secrecy, and could be A24’s biggest horror release of 2024. Yet the heart of the film is delicate and intimate, centered around what the trans community refers to as “the egg crack moment.” Schoenbrun, who is trans and non-binary, defines the term as “when you stop pretending you’re not trans, trying to desperately find every reason why you’re not, and admit for the first time that you are.

There’s an odd tension and dichotomy coursing throughout the new documentary, “Frida,” an intimacy meets a standard-issue form: a lyrical, magical quality next to something just maybe too safely chronological for its own good. Carla Gutierrez’s new documentary, her directorial debut, is well-meaning and has a clear devotion and affection for her subject, the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, but as a primarily told cradle-to-grave story, it is doggedly linear and therefore often feels a little familiar.