When one writes about movies, one often runs the risk of hyperbole. Cinema can often be so overwhelming, so unique, that your first impression can often be one of exalted rapture. Lord knows I've witnessed films in some settings that seem like bonafide masterpieces, only to revisit them with a cooler head and find that they're simply just fine. Not terrible, not bad — just okay. So I am trying to tread cautiously when I tell you that Jane Schoenbrun's "I Saw the TV Glow" (read our review here) is a masterpiece. Schoenbrun, who burst onto the scene with the excellent, disquieting "We're All Going to the World's Fair," is one of the most interesting filmmakers working right now, and with "I Saw the TV Glow," their sophomore effort, Schoenbrun showcases a jaw-dropping command of their material. This film feels so singular, so special, so unlike anything I've seen recently.
- 5/15/2024
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
In the opening image of “I Saw the TV Glow” the camera moves slowly down the middle of a suburban street. Dusk, it’s dark, but the sky has a hint of electric blue, as the camera passes over children’s chalk drawings that pop from the pavement like incandescent lights toward a neon-lit ice cream truck playing a slowed down children’s tune. This establishing shot embodies the magical, but slightly eery tone of the first half of the film and the childhood world of Owen, who we cut to watching television in the dark.
While on the Toolkit podcast, writer/director Jane Schoenbrun told IndieWire they drew inspiration from the sense of “controlled chaos” they felt watching ‘90s Nickelodeon programming geared to older kids — remember Snick? That line between feeling “scared, but not in danger” watching teen genre shows when you are a touch too young. While Schoenbrun...
While on the Toolkit podcast, writer/director Jane Schoenbrun told IndieWire they drew inspiration from the sense of “controlled chaos” they felt watching ‘90s Nickelodeon programming geared to older kids — remember Snick? That line between feeling “scared, but not in danger” watching teen genre shows when you are a touch too young. While Schoenbrun...
- 5/14/2024
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw The TV Glow,” out in limited theaters now, is about teenagers Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Owen (Justice Smith), who bond over a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”-style TV show, “The Pink Opaque.” As they continue to get more into the lore of the television show, the edges blur between the reality of their lives and “The Pink Opaque.”
Schoenbrun has described “Buffy” as a pivotal show for them while they were growing up, so creating their version of that felt like giving their 13-year-old self a gift. So getting “The Pink Opaque” just right was monumental.
The premise of “The Pink Opaque,” like most ’90s shows, is perfectly silly and immediately nostalgic. Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Snail Mail’s Lindsay Jordan) meet at summer camp and realize they have an ancient, psychic connection. When camp ends, the two are able to meet on a...
Schoenbrun has described “Buffy” as a pivotal show for them while they were growing up, so creating their version of that felt like giving their 13-year-old self a gift. So getting “The Pink Opaque” just right was monumental.
The premise of “The Pink Opaque,” like most ’90s shows, is perfectly silly and immediately nostalgic. Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Snail Mail’s Lindsay Jordan) meet at summer camp and realize they have an ancient, psychic connection. When camp ends, the two are able to meet on a...
- 5/9/2024
- by Kerensa Cadenas
- Indiewire
Four months into 2024, and it’s already shaping up to be an exceptionally strong year for cinematography, with several standout films that represent the art form at its apex. Perhaps what’s most welcome about these films is their variety, not only in terms of genre and tone but also budget and position in the marketplace. From the studio system, we have Greig Fraser’s extraordinary work on “Dune: Part Two,” which doubles down on the ambition and tactile detail of Fraser’s work on its predecessor (for which he justly received an Academy Award) to create one of the most flat-out beautiful epics since the glory days of David Lean. From the world of low-budget, independent filmmaking, we have “I Saw the TV Glow,” where cinematographer Eric Yue designs a meticulous and expressive visual corollary for his protagonist’s inner state.
Somewhere in between “Dune” and “I Saw the TV Glow...
Somewhere in between “Dune” and “I Saw the TV Glow...
- 4/20/2024
- by Jim Hemphill and Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Jane Schoenbrun’s defining cinematic preoccupation was clear from their first feature, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. Young people in the digital age share a symbiotic relationship with the culture that exposes them to a world beyond their lived experiences, and the moving images these impressionable young minds consume end up consuming them.
Schoenbrun moves forward by looking back at the ’90s in their sophomore effort, I Saw the TV Glow, a mesmeric but frequently muddled exploration of transgender self-actualization through identification with a beguiling television program. The disconnect between story and style feels pronounced here, whereas in the writer-director’s first feature these modes of meaning-making felt mutually reinforcing. The film’s thematic content represents a watershed moment for trans cinema, yet it finds expression on screen most often through watered-down genre hallmarks.
I Saw the TV Glow finds Schoenbrun pushing this line of inquiry again with...
Schoenbrun moves forward by looking back at the ’90s in their sophomore effort, I Saw the TV Glow, a mesmeric but frequently muddled exploration of transgender self-actualization through identification with a beguiling television program. The disconnect between story and style feels pronounced here, whereas in the writer-director’s first feature these modes of meaning-making felt mutually reinforcing. The film’s thematic content represents a watershed moment for trans cinema, yet it finds expression on screen most often through watered-down genre hallmarks.
I Saw the TV Glow finds Schoenbrun pushing this line of inquiry again with...
- 2/17/2024
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
The Alexa 35 is booming! As IndieWire released its camera survey, it seems that the new Super 35 flagship from Arri is among the most popular cameras chosen by Sundance 2024’s filmmakers. The Arri 35 causes the notable Super 35 format to go back to the game. Furthermore, the Arri Alexa Mini is the most popular camera five years in a row. Watch the segmentation.
Sundance 2024’s Narratives: Camera Manufacturers’ chart
As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the Arri 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the Arri 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) Alexa Mini, the Arri 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers.
Sundance 2024’s Narratives: Camera Manufacturers’ chart
As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the Arri 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the Arri 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) Alexa Mini, the Arri 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers.
- 1/29/2024
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
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. Heady and oneiric, Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow” asks what happens to those who don’t — following two dysfunctional devotees of a ’90s YA fantasy series as the show continues to live inside them (or perhaps the other way round) long after its departure from the airwaves.
This is...
This is...
- 1/19/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Each year, Filmmaker sends all Sundance feature film or series cinematographers a questionnaire to complete ahead of their film’s festival screening. We also send out a single question for feature directors to answer as well as questionnaires for editors and first-time Sundance feature producers. Below, find links to individual cinematographer responses, which will be updated daily during the festival. “I Feel Like We Made an Image That I Have Never Seen Before”: Dp Eric Yue on I Saw the TV Glow “Creating a Mood and Tone Is the Most Impactful Element of Cinematography”: David Bolen on Thelma “Each Day Was a White-Knuckle […]
The post 2024 Sundance Questionnaire: Cinematographer Responses first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post 2024 Sundance Questionnaire: Cinematographer Responses first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/18/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Each year, Filmmaker sends all Sundance feature film or series cinematographers a questionnaire to complete ahead of their film’s festival screening. We also send out a single question for feature directors to answer as well as questionnaires for editors and first-time Sundance feature producers. Below, find links to individual cinematographer responses, which will be updated daily during the festival. “I Feel Like We Made an Image That I Have Never Seen Before”: Dp Eric Yue on I Saw the TV Glow “Creating a Mood and Tone Is the Most Impactful Element of Cinematography”: David Bolen on Thelma “Each Day Was a White-Knuckle […]
The post 2024 Sundance Questionnaire: Cinematographer Responses first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post 2024 Sundance Questionnaire: Cinematographer Responses first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/18/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Jane Schoenbrun’s follow-up to the 2021 Sundance hit We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is I Saw the TV Glow, about a teenager whose friend introduces him to a late-night TV show that grants access to a supernatural world. The film will play as part of the Midnight section at the 2024 Sundance. Eric Yue, who shot one of last year’s breakout Sundance hits (A Thousand and One) serves as Dp on I Saw the TV Glow. Below, he shares the film’s eclectic reference points and explains how he and Schoenbrun found a visual aesthetic befitting the film’s strangeness. See all […]
The post “I Feel Like We Made an Image That I Have Never Seen Before”: Dp Eric Yue on I Saw the TV Glow first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Feel Like We Made an Image That I Have Never Seen Before”: Dp Eric Yue on I Saw the TV Glow first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/18/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Jane Schoenbrun’s follow-up to the 2021 Sundance hit We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is I Saw the TV Glow, about a teenager whose friend introduces him to a late-night TV show that grants access to a supernatural world. The film will play as part of the Midnight section at the 2024 Sundance. Eric Yue, who shot one of last year’s breakout Sundance hits (A Thousand and One) serves as Dp on I Saw the TV Glow. Below, he shares the film’s eclectic reference points and explains how he and Schoenbrun found a visual aesthetic befitting the film’s strangeness. See all […]
The post “I Feel Like We Made an Image That I Have Never Seen Before”: Dp Eric Yue on I Saw the TV Glow first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Feel Like We Made an Image That I Have Never Seen Before”: Dp Eric Yue on I Saw the TV Glow first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/18/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Her feature debut We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) was an official Sundance selection (pandemic edition) but everything indicates that Jane Schoenbrun could see her sophomore item get a proper in-person showcase. I Saw the TV Glow moved into production in July of last year with a cast of hip artists such as Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine toplining and notables supporting players such as Helena Howard, Danielle Deadwyler, Phoebe Bridgers and yes even Fred Durst. A Thousand and One cinematographer Eric K. Yue teamed with Schoenbrun on this project.
Gist: Two teenagers bond over their love of a television series; after it is mysteriously cancelled, their reality begins to blur.…...
Gist: Two teenagers bond over their love of a television series; after it is mysteriously cancelled, their reality begins to blur.…...
- 11/12/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Film cameras strike big time as it seems that Dp chose celluloid to shoot the Oscar 2024 (96th Academy Awards) contenders. The most used camera is the Arricam (Lt and St) which, you have to admit, is an amazing fact. Additionally, there are new cameras on that list. Explore the camera charts below based on the IndieWire Cinematography Survey.
Oscar 2024: Camera Manufacturers Chart Oscar 2024 contenders: Cameras and lenses
IndieWire reached out to the directors of photography whose films are among the most critically acclaimed of the year, in order to explore which cameras and lenses they used (Make sure to read the IndieWire’s article where you can find Dp’s explanation of how they used their gear). As the tradition calls, we took the data to build friendly charts, trying to find a significant tendency and segmentation. Surprisingly, the most used camera is the Arricam. First,...
Oscar 2024: Camera Manufacturers Chart Oscar 2024 contenders: Cameras and lenses
IndieWire reached out to the directors of photography whose films are among the most critically acclaimed of the year, in order to explore which cameras and lenses they used (Make sure to read the IndieWire’s article where you can find Dp’s explanation of how they used their gear). As the tradition calls, we took the data to build friendly charts, trying to find a significant tendency and segmentation. Surprisingly, the most used camera is the Arricam. First,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
Hello and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen podcast season 2! I am your host Valerie Complex.
I had planned to take a 6 week hiatus from the podcast in order to plan the next season but ended up being gone for three months. Unfortunately, I had a family tragedy I had to deal with and It took me some time to regroup. Now we’re back in business with guest Teyana Taylor and A.V. Rockwell, star and director of Focus Feature film A Thousand and One which is now available on Peacock TV and Prime Video streaming platforms.
Rockwell is an award-winning screenwriter and director. Named as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” her distinctive voice has been celebrated for slyly addressing issues of race, identity and systemic oppression. Rockwell’s debut feature film, A Thousand and One, was written and directed for Focus Features.
I had planned to take a 6 week hiatus from the podcast in order to plan the next season but ended up being gone for three months. Unfortunately, I had a family tragedy I had to deal with and It took me some time to regroup. Now we’re back in business with guest Teyana Taylor and A.V. Rockwell, star and director of Focus Feature film A Thousand and One which is now available on Peacock TV and Prime Video streaming platforms.
Rockwell is an award-winning screenwriter and director. Named as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” her distinctive voice has been celebrated for slyly addressing issues of race, identity and systemic oppression. Rockwell’s debut feature film, A Thousand and One, was written and directed for Focus Features.
- 6/2/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
A.V. Rockwell’s feature debut A Thousand and One begins with Inez (Teyana Taylor) migrating between shelters during an intensely hot summer in ’90s-era New York City. Her 6-year-old son Terry is in foster care, and she makes the bold decision to kidnap him and discreetly live together again in Harlem. Years pass, and Terry (Josiah Cross) has grown into a shy but precocious teenager. However, the secret that the Inez has kept for a decade threatens to be revealed, meaning that the life she has built with her son could crumble at any moment. Cinematographer Eric Yue talks about how […]
The post “I Was Drawn to Harlem as a Character and How Gentrification Was Also an Antagonist”: Dp Eric Yue on A Thousand and One first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Was Drawn to Harlem as a Character and How Gentrification Was Also an Antagonist”: Dp Eric Yue on A Thousand and One first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/2/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
A.V. Rockwell’s feature debut A Thousand and One begins with Inez (Teyana Taylor) migrating between shelters during an intensely hot summer in ’90s-era New York City. Her 6-year-old son Terry is in foster care, and she makes the bold decision to kidnap him and discreetly live together again in Harlem. Years pass, and Terry (Josiah Cross) has grown into a shy but precocious teenager. However, the secret that the Inez has kept for a decade threatens to be revealed, meaning that the life she has built with her son could crumble at any moment. Cinematographer Eric Yue talks about how […]
The post “I Was Drawn to Harlem as a Character and How Gentrification Was Also an Antagonist”: Dp Eric Yue on A Thousand and One first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Was Drawn to Harlem as a Character and How Gentrification Was Also an Antagonist”: Dp Eric Yue on A Thousand and One first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/2/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In the beginning of A Thousand and One, the New York City streets are alive, detailed and humming with swagger. It’s 1993 and Inez struts through Brooklyn after a five-year stint at Rikers Island, readjusting to the rhythms of freedom. The sun bakes the brownstones, hip-hop echoes around storefronts, and kids suck on ice pops––the kind of weather and atmosphere Samuel L. Jackson might be yammering about from his bedroom window. But there’s no time to waste. Inez is looking for Terry, the seven-year-old she left behind and hopes to reclaim.
To fulfill that desire, Inez makes a dangerous choice: she steals Terry from his foster family and shuttles him to Harlem, where she’ll knock on doors, scrape jobs together, and survive as a mother with him over the next decade. Anchored by a virtuoso performance from Teyana Taylor, director A.V. Rockwell’s ambitious, detailed, slightly underbaked...
To fulfill that desire, Inez makes a dangerous choice: she steals Terry from his foster family and shuttles him to Harlem, where she’ll knock on doors, scrape jobs together, and survive as a mother with him over the next decade. Anchored by a virtuoso performance from Teyana Taylor, director A.V. Rockwell’s ambitious, detailed, slightly underbaked...
- 1/29/2023
- by Jake Kring-Schreifels
- The Film Stage
There are two bruising lines that bookend first-time feature director A.V. Rockwell’s “A Thousand and One,” .
“There’s more to life than fucked-up beginnings,” Inez, a woman living life in New York on her own terms and brilliantly played by R&b super-artist/actress Teyana Taylor, tells her young son Terry (Aaron Kingsley Adetola). She has kidnapped him out of the foster care system, which has kept them separated after her stint in Rikers Island beginning in 1993, and now hopes to give him a better life. But at the end of the movie, after a decades-spanning, bittersweet bond forms and fizzles between them and shattering revelations are had, she tells the older Terry (Josiah Cross), “I fucked up. Life goes on. So what?”
Rockwell’s direction is sophisticated and visually imaginative even as the movie could benefit from a tighter edit around its New York cast of characters and...
“There’s more to life than fucked-up beginnings,” Inez, a woman living life in New York on her own terms and brilliantly played by R&b super-artist/actress Teyana Taylor, tells her young son Terry (Aaron Kingsley Adetola). She has kidnapped him out of the foster care system, which has kept them separated after her stint in Rikers Island beginning in 1993, and now hopes to give him a better life. But at the end of the movie, after a decades-spanning, bittersweet bond forms and fizzles between them and shattering revelations are had, she tells the older Terry (Josiah Cross), “I fucked up. Life goes on. So what?”
Rockwell’s direction is sophisticated and visually imaginative even as the movie could benefit from a tighter edit around its New York cast of characters and...
- 1/26/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
There is so much to appreciate about A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One. The film chronicles the lives of native New Yorkers from 1994-2005, which was a period of transition in NYC. The atmosphere began to change, as stop and frisk was over-utilized, gentrification was displacing the people of Harlem at rapid speed, and the culture of the city gave way to sterilization. Now there are even fewer resources available, the wage gap is beyond repair and it’s unaffordable. Rockwell drew inspiration from this and created a coming-of-age story about finding an identity and chosen family.
The film starts in 1994, Inez De La Paz (Teyana Taylor) kidnaps her 6-year-old child Terry (Aaron Kingley Adetola) out of the foster care system. She knows what’s in store for him if he stays with the city as she too is a product of the system. Inez finds refuge in a...
The film starts in 1994, Inez De La Paz (Teyana Taylor) kidnaps her 6-year-old child Terry (Aaron Kingley Adetola) out of the foster care system. She knows what’s in store for him if he stays with the city as she too is a product of the system. Inez finds refuge in a...
- 1/23/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
The struggles of a young woman of color to rebuild her life after a prison stint are conveyed with deep feeling in A Thousand and One, the affecting first feature from A.V. Rockwell, who sharpened her skills on acclaimed short films and commercials. Led by a performance from Teyana Taylor of youthful swagger that evolves through a series of challenges into hard-won self-possession, the Focus Features release is a tender, often painful portrait of the fractious but loving bond between a mother and son, both spat out of the foster care system. It’s also a rich evocation of New York City in the throes of accelerated gentrification and discriminatory policing.
The gritty textures, sizzling colors and vibrant street life of Harlem, in particular, make that historic neighborhood as much a protagonist as Taylor’s Inez De La Paz, a hair stylist first encountered in 1993 while she’s serving time at Rikers.
The gritty textures, sizzling colors and vibrant street life of Harlem, in particular, make that historic neighborhood as much a protagonist as Taylor’s Inez De La Paz, a hair stylist first encountered in 1993 while she’s serving time at Rikers.
- 1/23/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A modern-day cultural Berlin wall, Cuba may not be receptive to commerce, but it remains open to the art and culture from its neighbor 90 miles north. As such, images of the country remain illusive and seductive to an American viewer. It’s this kinder, gentler world of “normalized” relations that serves as a jumping-off point for Give Me Future, as Edm trio Major Lazer dream of adding a Cuba show to their tour of conflict zones. Known for summer bangers “Lean On” and “Light It Up,” they group has an easier time playing in Pakistan and Venezuela, despite the Caribbean vibes of their most popular hits.
Diplo, Walshy Fire, and Jillionaire have a simple goal: making the world smaller by making the world bigger. Their goal is to find a Cuban-American promotor to work for fourteen months before the announcement of new diplomatic relations between the two countries. Once found,...
Diplo, Walshy Fire, and Jillionaire have a simple goal: making the world smaller by making the world bigger. Their goal is to find a Cuban-American promotor to work for fourteen months before the announcement of new diplomatic relations between the two countries. Once found,...
- 2/1/2017
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Jacqueline (Argentine) marks the debut feature film from both director Bernardo Britto and Dp Eric Yue. Starring former Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac, the film unfolds as an playful blend of mockumentary and political thriller. Below, Filmmaker speaks with Yue about what he calls the film’s “documentary/stylized” aesthetic. The film premiered in the Next program at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Yue: I was approached by Bernardo and the producers who are friends of mine from college. […]...
- 1/28/2016
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Jacqueline (Argentine) marks the debut feature film from both director Bernardo Britto and Dp Eric Yue. Starring former Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac, the film unfolds as an playful blend of mockumentary and political thriller. Below, Filmmaker speaks with Yue about what he calls the film’s “documentary/stylized” aesthetic. The film premiered in the Next program at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Yue: I was approached by Bernardo and the producers who are friends of mine from college. […]...
- 1/28/2016
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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