Jane Schoenbrun is an extremely talented filmmaker. I am though at the moment concerned they are on an artistic downward trajectory early in their career, but I remain optimistic that their talent will win out.
3. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma [2026]
Jane Schoenbrun makes films about how the screens that give us so much joy are also killing us. They are not preachy films obviously, but they instead confront the fact that we need to hold both of these seemingly contradictory truths in our hands at the same time.
With that in mind, I have to confront the same concept with the work of Jane Schoenbrun so far. On one hand, I love that they are a capital “A” Artist. They have a clear vision and understand the importance of having a distinct visual style matches the ideas of the films. They have something to say about the world, but they understand that films should be enjoyable, too.
But their films are becoming increasingly less cool and bold.
With each passing film, Schoenbrun inserts elements into their films that feel like hidden keys to jangle in front of audiences that want to suspend our disbelief and feel like they are above the baby food culture that is permeating throughout the United States. Schoenbrun both confronts the trap of nostalgia but exploits nostalgia in Miasma enough that it feels too much like eating their cake and having it, too. They can and have done better.
2. I Saw the TV Glow [2024]
While I can never know what it truly feels like to be a trans person, Jane Schoenbrun’s second feature-length film does an extraordinary job of showing just that. Specifically, as wise person on Twitter wrote, “What if you never figured out how to say the word trans” is pretty clearly what I Saw The TV Glow is actually about.” Schoenbrun in particular shows how painful of a tragedy it would be for a trans person to spend their entire life being unable to embrace their trans-ness.
Seeing this film in a theater knowing little to nothing about was an experience my wife and I will treasure forever. My feelings on the film have become more nuanced after seeing We’re All Going to the World’s Fair however for sure. While Schoenbrun’s first film is so thematically and stylistically bold and cool, I Saw the TV Glow seemed so much less challenging in retrospect. I still have fond feelings for it for sure though. Read a smarter and better review here.
1. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair [2021]
Jane Schoenbrun’s debut film is, if nothing else, so fucking cool. It follows a young person’s journey through the internet and the slow decaying of theirs and everyone else’s mind. Between scams, parasocial relationships, trends, and all sorts of toxic shit, we are being made to feel temporary comfort on the internet but at the heaviest of price.
This is a more challenging film for sure than Schoenbrun’s follow-up, but the films should be viewed as a pair more than in competition with each other. These screens are destroying us. The line dividing us between the screens and ourselves is simultaneously getting non-existent but also showing us how far away we are becoming from reality.
The most painful moment of the film is when JLB starts spiraling when his ostensibly imaginary friend at the other side of the computer pushes him away. That spiral was too painfully real.
The Reel World 