I can absolutely understand why it didn't connect for you, it connected so hard for me. I felt like it captured the dread and pain of Dysphoria and Repression so well and brought back those feelings for me which brought me to tears. I feel like the ending and story can be interpreted in so many ways, Taken literally, Maddie's monologue has them say multiple times they change their name, embraced a new life and died to live anew and invites them to do the same. Owen rejects Maddie's invite to leave town once already so this is another chance. Rejecting Maddie again is further proof of Owen burying themselves in their unsatisfying life. Given how the movie present this footage and when we see how shitty and awful the show looked upon rewatch, the final episode feels like it might be what happened to these two and Owen is in fact living a false life but refuses to accept themselves and runs away because its easier to live the lie despite deep down wanting to leave. The last section is fascinating to me as it says its 20 years later but none of his co-workers look aged at all while Owen looks decayed and heavily aged as if living this lie of a life has taken a major toll on them. The theme of time and its advancement is frequently mentioned throughout the film. Life in the closet can go by in a flash when you bury yourself in it and I feel like this is whats happening to Owen, as their only respite at the end is them opening themselves up to their inner self for a moment. Importantly, right before this last bit the phrase 'There is still time' is written on the road. Owen apologizing profusely to me is unsatisfying but also the first time we see Owen actively talk to others intentionally, signalling to me that they're opening up and possibly coming around to the idea that their reality is false.

Went to the restroom during the monologue. Got back and she was still mid monologue 🤣

I was a goth teenager in school in the 90's and had a queer friend 2 years older than me. our favorite show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We always watched it together . This movie gives me chill

Joseph’s facial reactions to Nick’s pull quotes are my favorite thing 😂

The idea of David Lynch making a YA film made me laugh hard.That will be stuck in my head all day.

I didn't understand how he had those tapes the whole time and only rewatched the show when it came to streaming. Surely, that would have cleared up his confusion as to what really or didn't really happen. At least include a scene of him throwing out his VCR.

You guys and Red Letter Media are the only KZfaq film reviewers I can enjoy - no pretension, all substance!

'Acting' like life is a video game or a movie to cope is called dissociation. I do it voluntarily, which is okay, but some people just slip into it, and need help.

Joseph you recounting your adolescence made me choke up 😢 I’m glad you’re having a wonderful life now! ❤️

"I don't believe that you can take care of YOURSELF!" lmao I died

My hand at cutting through the dense fog of metaphor. Would love knowing what you two think through its lens. The Pink Opaque is a mirror to Owen and Maddy, except instead of being a literal psychic connection like Tara and Isabel share, their unseen "Psychic connection" metaphorically is that they are fighting a similar battle with their own identity. When Owen first sees Maddy, he recognizes her book, a metaphor for something he was exposed to on TV for the first time the night prior. She shows him it and shares encouragingly, seeing his curiosity in The Pink Opaque. The book is more than just an episode guide, it is exposure to an idea. Owen's strict "curfew" is a euphonism for the strict boundaries in which he had to live inside his home. He was only exposed to The Pink Opaque when he could sneak away from the prying eyes of his parents over at Maddy's. In high school and meeting Maddy again on the bleachers, Owen shares that he was too afraid to look inside himself in fear of what he would find in that empty space, so he represses it, and you can see it in his mannerisms and behavior. Maddy is fighting her own battle, sharing how persecuted she feels by her peers and the betrayal of her ex-best friend when she trusted and shared her real self. Convinced that she would die if she has to stay in “town” for much longer, Maddy makes her escape. She invites Owen to follow her, but he's gets cold feet, tattling on himself to get grounded, not having to face the decision. The show ending on season 5 shortly after was evidence of her liberation, the final episode depicting the Maddy which Owen had known being buried, and that Owen was close behind except for himself, it was by force. The Pink Opaque was only an ongoing journey for him while Maddy was there with him. Maddy describes the years passing by so fast since the "show ended", by 22 had had enough of time passing her by unhappily, and finally broke out of her coffin and was reborn as who she really was, clearly cutting her hair and expressing herself. It's a Maddy that Owen didn't even recognize at first. She brings Owen to a safe space to speak, a sapphic bar. Before telling her own journey, she first pesters Owen with whether he had reached his own conclusion yet. Not hearing the answer she was hoping for, she explains she found not only herself, her true beating heart in the freezer, but also Owens in recognizing that they had always been in this conflict together, the nightmare realm of the show, and the present nightmare of living under the wrong identity. Maddy had "escaped" the show after the end of season 5. She describes how she asked to be buried alive (what did that boy really do to her for $50 ‘unknowingly’ ?...), explaining how she reborned herself, prying herself out of her coffin. Being “Buried” in this film is a euphonism for being trapped in the closet. She escaped melancholy. She escaped her closet. Owen originally tried to go after her, seeing the scene of the crime outside her home. She had made it out of the TV burning in the front yard leaving him. Yet, she was trauma bonded with Owen. Whether out of love or just guilt for how she left him behind “in town” or in parallel to the show, succumbing to Mr. Melancholy, she couldn't move forward with her life into season 6 with her own heart as Tara, knowing Owen and Isabel were still living in hell without theirs. When Maddy invites him the next evening to directly confront this realization with him, he resists, calling her insane, rejecting looking inside himself. Maddy states she is certain that he already knows deep down as well what's there. Think back she says, as he recalls trying on her dresses at her house one of those Saturday night sleepovers. On the football field, Owen repeats the tv show premise that the monsters in the drain don't exist if he doesn't think of them. He refuses to fight the battle inside, and rejects Maddy's guidance right at the end before the process of rebirth. Maddy stares on as he runs away, and this time doesn't come back for them. After years of being dedicated to taping and sharing The Pink Opaque, she finally went back for her heart to live on as Tara and gave up on Isabel. She was not going to stop drinking the lunar juice and ever wake up. Owen watches the final episode again, every rewatch ever closer to their breakthrough in who they really are, and this time he even jumps into the TV, so close to escaping his personal hell as Maddy did 8 years earlier, but his abusive and judgmental father who once told him The Pink Opaque was just for girls pulled him back in, "waking him up" by force over the tub and back into his "Snow Globe". The most obvious euphonism was little Owen inside the snow globe, seeing the flashing pinks, blues, and whites luminating from the TV screen the very first time he saw the show "advertised" (though he was never really "familiar" yet), and another moment of awakening inside the clearly Pink, Blue, and White colored Parachute, these being the colors of the transgender pride flag. As time wears he doesn’t even relate to the plot of The Pink Opaque anymore when revisiting it, the feelings he once held are so repressed it’s unrecognizable. 12 years go by since he rejects retrieving his heart back, and his asthma is getting worse. He's nearly dying by age 35, insinuating the young ages at which trans people so often reach the end of their lives. His inhaler stops working, he can't keep going. Even when he desperately cuts himself open to see what's inside, Owen allows himself the brief relief in the bathroom mirror. Isabel has died and he made sure of it. But he still dresses back up and returns to work, continuing to apologize for who she really is as Maddy had warned him to stop doing in her living room 22 years prior.

Just when I thought I couldn’t love you more! You guys are the best. It was really touching hearing. You both share how your life story connected a little bit with the movie. Thanks for being vulnerable.

A reference to Taste of Cherry wasn't expected today. I told my friends the Pink Opaque was So Weird if directed by Lynch.

Sleep Away Camp was always my go to when I had a sleep over. Purely to disturb the other kids who weren’t allowed to watch horror.

I thought this was a very honest review. The film is ambitious but misses the mark.

The 7th grade version of justice smith looked NOTHING like him.

Is that a Grace Jones tee shirt on Nick? Love it! Remember her in Boomerang? Classic.

Saw this tonight so of course I’m here now. I expected this to be a horror film, and I kept waiting for it to happen. The live wire scene is where I thought ok the movie is gonna start now, but it didn’t. I left the theater hating the film. The whole time watching I was trying to figure out if Owen was autistic, and if that was the plot. I missed all the trans references, but I did wonder if there was something more going on with the dress. Then I thought, were they both being sexually abused by their father figures? Owen’s dad seemed very concerned about what he was watching and when he caught him with his head in the tv the scene was ambiguous to me with the violent imagery of the dad standing behind Owen. The girl was fearful of her father and the scene where she leaves Owen in the basement could’ve gone several different ways. I thought maybe she left him down there because her dad was violating her (she had stated her mom didn’t care what she did). Then later when she is trying to jog Owen’s memory I thought maybe she was trying to get him to remember some sort of abuse, maybe that happened in the basement, and that the tv show was a mind escape from reality. I still don’t really know what the film was about lol but I did enjoy seeing the young Owen actor (he’s the kid from the Showtime series Let The Right One In) and he was the best part of the film. Thank you FishJelly for another great review. Also- why didn’t he take his sleeping bag off the floor and sleep on the couch? I get that he was feeling only half welcome, but that drove me nuts! lol Update- after reading some of the other comments, especially the one about the colors of the trans flag (duh, so obvious, I can’t believe I missed it!) it’s pretty clear that this is what Owen was dealing with. Yes, it’s possible Maddy was his female voice. So much going on, I guess this film is worth a second watch after all.

"Rose McGowen is a trigger for me." Me too, Joseph!

I definitely want to see this movie again someday. I feel like there were a lot concepts. Some I understood and some I didn’t notice until listening to y’all or reading the comments. I loved the movie over all thougg

I thought Maddy looked a lot like a young Winona Ryder in many of the scenes lol

I had episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark that haunted my memories and turned out to be cheesy when I rewatched them as an adult. I really think the effect wouldnt work if the audience knew the show as something cheesy first, from firsthand experience.

I completely agree with you guys, though I think I liked it a little bit more than both of you! The technicals are impeccable, but the second half kind of lost me lol. Might go see this again in wide release, great review guys!

The Pink Opaque is a Cocteau Twins compilation album of singles and best tracks from 1982-1985. Great songs

Thats so funny, my favorite parts of the movie were the soundtrack: _ Taper by Maria BC _ Psychic Wound by King Woman _ Claw Machine by Sloppy Janes Very interesting concept , i think the director and/or writer needs a creative partner to help them flesh out their ideas more and improve the pacing of the movie.

Appreciate the message of it, but I felt like the director was so in love with their central allegory that the rest of the film suffered. By the time the story really got going, I hadn’t developed any connection or care for the characters and was taken out of the movie so many times by the directorial choices. It felt like a discrete set of music videos connected by flat exposition that went on for far too long at points.

I really enjoyed it but do agree that there were some parts that just didn’t connect all the way. Overall I enjoyed the design and story just wish it was a little more fleshed out. The music truly was fabulous, the soundtrack has been on repeat for me ever since I heard Caroline Polacheck made “Starburned and Unkissed” for it.

09:57 Joseph’s face after the mention of Jordan Catalano 😂

This TV didn’t glow for me either.

Love the shirt Nick! And the review guys.

XFiles plus Saved by the Bell??? Hell yes, please.

Have you guys watched Baby Reindeer? Would love to hear your thoughts.

U guys seem like we would be good friends. -- seems like all the movies I’ve watched , then check your channel , - u guys made a review on - and we always seem to have the same opinion. It’s refreshing to watch ur videos and hear how we get the same out of all these movies. Love you guys Thanks for your reviews 👍🏼😉 Especially this one Also-- Loved: the worst hair list 😂🤣 Ps- that shirt is hot as hell-😳😍 where can I find one ???

i love seeing indie stuff like this on movie screens HOWEVER i fell asleep during the monologue and feel like missed the POINT… did I? It wasn’t my fav but i want more movies that push boundaries of what we expect movies to be

I love weird movies but My God I haven’t watched one that was interesting or I enjoyed in awhile. Thanks for watching and reviewing so I don’t waste my time.

I quite liked the pink opaque, it is a bit tedious and dry and very slow but it elicited such specific feelings, thoughts and memories and was overall a very interesting, good-looking well-shot and well-framed movie, but I also think the trailer gave away too much. I’m kinda with Joseph on Justice Smith, I wanna like him but he doesn’t quite do it for me. But he was as good an actor as you could get for a role like this

Just watched this film last night. Went into it blind, not having seen the trailer or knowing anything about it. 😂 needless to say, im happy yall feel pretty much the same way i do

Nice review! Have you guys watched The Wailing 2016 Korean horror?. ❤❤.

Love the grace jones shirt

Awesome review. Not an awesome movie

Justice Smith is great in Detective Pikachu

There seems to be an increasing number of films where the entire point is "it's a metaphor!" and then not really much beyond that.

The song when they was at the bar made me feel like that’s what the whole movie was about but definitely a lot of Ideas that diddnt get clarified and the narration was terrible it just seemed like they did not have the budget for what they where trying to convey and it fell short like a straight airball don’t waste your money… this is like Donnie darko sipping on lean slow… 🤪

I honestly don’t know how Nick sat through this a second time. The movie was so unbelievably boring. The little dialogue we get is just basically repeated over and over again. Saw this at a packed theater at Lincoln Center and half the audience was asleep when the lights came up. Loved your review, but you couldn’t pay me to watch this again.

This film seems like it could be pretty polarizing. For me, I’m on the pole that loves it. It’s actually between this and Hundreds of Beavers for my favorite film of the year so far. I found this one to be a pretty unique film that I haven’t seen anything like before.

I’m a writer/actor and I can’t understand why soo many adults, so many of my peers even are stuck making films about teenagers that’s aren’t actually teenagers… it makes me cringe so hard

Where can we see this film?

My reoccuring thought was ... please make it end. Why won't this movie end???

I have to agree with Joseph 2.5 stars. The two central performances were uninteresting and uncompelling and Schoenbrun needs a co writer to help flesh out their ideas.

Pity. I really enjoyed Schoenbrun's first film.

Movie theater was awkwardly silent an waiting in the chairs after the credits lol. This movie made “Beau is afraid” feel like a short film an not in a good way.

All the bright places was a good justice smith movie

Why haven’t you watched Till?

Are you guys reviewing Tarot?

I think most of your issues are all intentional. It's very much like a tv show. Actors playing characters of ages that make no sense, actors being replaced unexpectedly, plot lines like cancer just going away, time passing in seconds through montage or titles.. overly complicated backstories.. I feel like I'm rambling now but ya. It wasn't perfect but it was a high 4 stars for me.

Sad y'all didn't like it that much I couldn't stop thinking about it since i left SXSW and i just kept reading more into it and have grown to love it. But I can see what you wouldn't enjoy in it. Great review still guys. ❤

The Sloppy Jane scene broke me.

"Maddie looks like she doesn't sleep." lol

📺

13:34 well damn..

I love this movie to death but it’s definitely not for everyone. I grew up lonely using the internet and watching KZfaq in the 2000s, and something about the completely bizarre awkwardness and monologues perfectly captures this feeling in a way most films just can’t. It feels like someone who wrote WattPad stories or read Homestuck as a kid. The Lynch YA point is hilarious and I think related to these kinds of feelings and aesthetics. In many ways the scene with “Claw Machine” feels like the “The Nightingale” scene from Twin Peaks or “Blue Velvet” scene from Blue Velvet.

I loved we are all going to the world fair so I can't wait to check this out

I fux w justice since the get down but this was NOT it

5:30

Its a direct ripoff of the creepypasta Candle Cove. Syfy channel put it in their Channel Zero series.

Ah yes! No matter what the genre, there is always room for identity politics/representation!... Hard pass

This movies sounds kind of like Channel Zero Season 1: Candle Cove, but not as interesting

Glowing chest ending, thanks, wont be watching this 😂 sounds borning asf.

I loved We're All Going to the World's Fair

Way too artsy fartsy in a bad way

So far all the reviews I've seen of this have divided on age lines, the younger the reviewer the more they liked it. But none have been bad just ok-to rave

I wanted this to be good 😢

Sounds like a shattered microwaved version of lost highway

I'm gonna see this for the simple and admittedly shallow reason that I feel BLP is one of the most gorgeous humans on this planet.

It was the most pretentious movie I’ve ever seen.

Nick I enjoy your shirt. Who is that woman? Is she a celebrity? Also Joseph I'm not the biggest fan of Rose McGowan or Anne Hathaway for that matter. So I concur with you on the former actress. Despite Rose exposing Weinstein she is crazy and attention seeking.

What a grungy little wierdo of a movie

I feel it's about escapism from the fear of not bonding over a death in the family, also, being "influenced" to watch a show that's unsuitable. But, the plot is flimsy enough for the hairstyle choices to be criticized, so that's a negative!

Googled it and saw Fred Durst. That's never a good sign. Unless it's 'The Fanatic' which is one of the funniest films I've ever seen.