‘The Woman in the Yard’ Offers a Grave Message

March 28, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , Leave a comment

Wait a minute, I’m counting TWO women in the yard (CREDIT: Daniel Delgado Jr./Universal Pictures)

Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peyton Jackson, Estella Kahiha, Russell Hornsby

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Running Time: 87 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for General Unease and Implications of Self-Harm

Release Date: March 28, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: A woman named Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) has been living a suffocatingly isolated life on her Georgia farmhouse along with her teenage son Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and young daughter Annie (Estella Kahiha) ever since her husband David (Russell Hornsby) died in a car accident. She’s been getting on crutches since the crash, which also seems to have sapped her will to live. On top of that, the power has been cut off in the house, and they have no idea when it will be coming back on, nor are there any neighbors anywhere nearby who could conceivably help. But then suddenly someone (Okwui Okpokwasili) does appear, although she seems to be more omen than person. Clad head to toe in a midnight black veil, she sits calmly and patiently in the backyard, offering Ramona vague explanations for her presence like “You called and I came” and “Today’s the day.”

What Made an Impression?: Mental States Are Open to Interpretation: The Woman in the Yard opts for a slow burn approach sure to inspire speculation, though its ultimate revelations aren’t exactly surprising. Considering the setup, the costume design, and the MPA rating explanation, it’s clear that the Woman is something like the Angel of Death and Ramona has thought about ending her own life. Is this all then leading up to an inevitable tragedy? Without giving too much away, I’ll note that what you see will depend on what kind of viewer you are. When modern technology is replaced with hallucinations and a touch of the supernatural, it’s only fair to question what’s real and what’s not.
A Peek Inside: If you appreciated the Oscar-winning The Father‘s inside-out approach to dementia and have been hoping for more movies to pull off something similar with other complicated mental states, The Woman in the Yard has you covered. We’re caught in Ramona’s depressed mind: fractured, untethered from reality, unable to explain why she’s making harmful decisions. This isn’t a relentless horror thrill ride, but rather an invitation to be still like its titular harbinger. I can already feel it burrowing deep for permanent residency within my subconscious. Could this be a formula for spreading understanding to help someone in crisis? We can certainly hope so.

The Woman in the Yard is Recommended If You Like: Family therapy, Telling your kids ghost stories, Penmanship

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Veils

‘I Saw the TV Glow,’ and You Probably Should, Too

May 2, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Look at them, they’re glowing! (CREDIT: A24)

Starring: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Danielle Deadwyler, Fred Durst, Lindsey Jordan, Amber Benson, Connor O’Malley, Emma Portner

Director: Jane Schoenbrun

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Creepy Images and Psychic Distress

Release Date: May 3, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) are a couple of teenage misfits in 90s suburbia who bond over their love of the fantasy horror series The Pink Opaque, which airs on the fictional Young Adult Network. (Think Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Nickelodeon’s Saturday night SNICK block of programming, but also with some Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twin Peaks flourishes.) For Owen, the show is an escape from his depressing home life, with a cancer-stricken mother (Danielle Deadwyler) and a quietly menacing father (Fred Durst). For Maddy, it’s even more than that, as her memories of The Pink Opaque soon become cross-wired with her perception of reality. Or were she and Owen actually the show’s main characters all along? Regardless of what’s fact or fiction, the show proves to be an inexplicable part of Owen’s journey of self-actualization.

What Made an Impression?: Coming Out of the TV: I had the good fortune of my screening of I Saw the TV Glow being followed by a Q&A with writer-director Jane Schoenbrun, a trans and non-binary person who uses they/them pronouns. I recognized some queer themes on my own, but Schoenbrun’s explanations let me in on them further. That is to say, Owen is trans but just doesn’t realize it yet. A key moment pointing towards this (Very Big) subtext is a conversation between Maddy and Owen in which she informs him that she likes girls, and when she asks him if he also likes girls, or boys, he responds, “I think that I like TV shows.” Before the Q&A, I had interpreted this to mean that Owen is probably asexual, and I still think that may be true, but the whole psychedelic swirl that is I Saw the TV Glow makes it clear that it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Turning Ourselves On: As a cisgender straight man, my personal story is in many ways quite different from those of Owen, Maddy, and Schoenbrun. But I Saw the TV Glow still resonated with me profoundly. After all, it wasn’t just queer people who were obsessed with Nickelodeon and creepy genre TV back in the 90s. This movie is already being hailed as a landmark in trans cinema, and understandably so. But anyone who’s ever felt alienated from life and found solace in a show that seems like it was made just for you (only to eventually connect with a like-minded community) should find plenty of resonance here.
Oh, Fudge!: I Saw the TV Glow also has plenty of fun from an aesthetic standpoint, with The Pink Opaque serving up some delicious nightmare fuel. The show-within-the-movie is about two psychically connected friends fighting off the moon-dwelling Mr. Melancholy and his monster-of-the-week cronies. The best of these baddies is surely the ice cream man, a ruthless beast in a melting rubber suit who seems to be awakened by the annual end-of-summer lament that frozen treats can no longer be enjoyed the rest of the year. As someone who loves a perfect banana split on a sweltering dog day, I felt truly seen. If you’re reading this, Jane Schoenbrun, let’s hang out at your favorite soft serve joint the next time you’re in town.

I Saw the TV Glow is Recommended If You Like: SNICK, Videodrome, The Matrix, The X-Files, The AV Club in its heyday

Grade: 4 out of 5 VHS Tapes