One could classify this film as a kind of psychological horror, one that's built more on a metaphor than any kind of plot. It's more about trying to convey a feeling or emotion and not necessarily a linear story. It could also be loosely classified as a character study or building a kind of cinematic archetype. Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun is transgender and non-binary. Their work is often about themes relating to being transgender or non-binary. If one didn't know that or perhaps wasn't transgender themselves, it might not be clear that Schoenbrun is exploring transgender themes, even though it could be argued, as it could seem very plain, that one of the characters here is transgender, if not both. Because Schoenbrun operates mostly in metaphor, it means that other things can be extrapolated from their film and other themes can be taken from their narrative.
This film is in a lot of ways how television in the 1990's might have affected a certain demographic of young people. It's also about how some people identify with media, especially mass media, in ways that others do not. Some media can even help others to communicate what they're experiencing or feeling inside. In that, this film could be softly underlining the aphorism of "representation matters." It also softly underlines that representation is whatever we make it and it can come from the unlikeliest of places, particularly when it comes to science-fiction or fantasy narratives.
Justice Smith (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) stars as Owen, a biracial young man who meets a young girl in school. She turns him onto a TV show airing in 1996 called "The Pink Opaque." Owen becomes obsessed with this show, even though his parents don't allow him to watch it. His friend makes VHS tapes and sneak it to him. He also sneaks out of the house and pretends to have a sleepover at a boy's house when in reality he goes over to the girl's house to watch "The Pink Opaque." At the end of high school, his friend wants to leave and Owen doesn't, so she disappears. Nearly a decade passes and Owen lives a lonely life, working at a movie theater. Eventually, his friend returns and tells him that the TV show was real and she was inside of it.
Brigett Lundy-Pane (Atypical and Bill & Ted Face the Music) co-stars as Maddy, the aforementioned, female friend of Owen who is also obsessed with "The Pink Opaque." After a while, it becomes a question of whether Maddy is female or not. Because of this uncertainty, this person will be referred to with they/them pronouns. When they return from being gone for nearly a decade, they refuse Maddy as even being their name. They describe the experience of being gone and suggest that the things portrayed in "The Pink Opaque" are real and that they were there. They want to take Owen with them because they say that there's something inside Owen that perhaps doesn't match what he's presenting on the outside, which could go to the transgender themes that Schoenbrun likes to explore.
Cisgender people might see this as a metaphor for depression. One of the characters in "The Pink Opaque" is a villain called Mr. Melancholy. Melancholy is another word for depression. As the film progresses, it's obvious that Owen is suffering from some kind of depression or social anxiety that causes him to be somewhat anti-social or socially awkward, often not communicating or having trouble communicating. Obviously, depression is a mental health issue. So is gender dysphoria, which is at the heart of being transgender. Therefore, it's not surprising that other mental health issues could be extrapolated here.
Whether it's gender dysphoria or depression or whatever mental health issue one sees in this film, Schoenbrun makes images or pieces of dialogue or monologue that tries to convey what it's like for people or characters going through those mental health issues. One of those images or pieces of dialogue is this idea of being buried alive or suffocation. At several points, Schoenbrun literally depicts various forms of suffocation or the inability to breathe. By the end, Owen is a person who is asthmatic, which is a medical condition that can actually cause suffocation. There are even moments when this film depicts more violent moments of possible suffocation. Schoenbrun excels in crafting compelling images and this film is a clear example.
Rated PG-13 for language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 40 mins.
Available on Max.