Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S7E11 [I SAW THE TV GLOW (2024)]

Welcome to Season 7! As we are now a quarter of the way through the 21st century, like Bill Murray in Tootsie, Paul and Corey are asking, "What happened?" This season we are looking at the trends, genres, styles, and more that make up cinema of the past 25 years. This week, Paul chose Jane Schoenbrun's second feature film, which they wrote and directed, I Saw the TV Glow (2024). The film is an allegory of the trans experience of "the egg crack" - the moment one realizes their identity doesn't correspond to their assigned gender. Throughout, Schoenbrun uses their cinematic, television, and musical influences to create a surreal, dissonant, and (spoiler; literal/figurative) heartbreaking examination of nostalgia, the narcotizing and liberating aspects of art, and a life unlived. A must-see.