Pearl takes place on a rural farm in 1918, which as it turns out, isn’t much different than today. There’s a pandemic going on, so everybody has to wear masks when they go into town. It is now, as it was then, such a bleak time that movies are the primary source of escape. Another sentiment that is just as true now as it was a hundred years ago: Brushing aside your hopes and dreams due to family responsibilities, which builds an intense resentment that borders on psychosis. You know, the usual.
Pearl (Mia Goth) is a farm girl with dreams of being a movie star. Her domineering mother (Tandi Wright) does her best to keep her on the farm to care for her invalid father (Matthew Sunderland), but she can’t stop Pearl from going down to the picture show. Despite the fact she’s married, and her hubby is off to war, Pearl has a fling with the local projectionist (David Corenswet), who tells her about a local audition to be a dancing girl. You know the feeling when you want something so bad that you would just snap if you didn’t get it? That’s what happens to poor Pearl.
Although Pearl is a prequel to X, it stands on its own two feet just fine. While the setting and the occasional callback (or would it be a callforward?) are nice for fans of that film, unlike a lot of prequel filmmakers, director and co-writer Ti West resists the urge to nudge the audience and ask, “Hey, remember that?” He does a good job at planting seeds for the future, but not at the expense of the moment.
Goth was quite good in X, but here she gives a tour de force performance. If you saw that film, you know her character is bound to go off the deep end at some point. The way Pearl spirals out of control, although inevitable, still manages to be tragic, and even a bit heartbreaking. Goth has one showstopping monologue that just rips your heart out. It will go down as one of the greatest scenes of the year, in addition to being one of the year’s best performances.
Shortly after its release, Martin Scorsese took out a full-page ad in the trades to praise the movie. I can see why he responded to it so much as it is a love letter to not only film, but our love of it. I think it’s cool he went to bat for a small genre flick (and a prequel at that). There’s also a certain kinship here with Taxi Driver as well.
X was a riff on Tobe Hooper. Pearl feels more like a riff on the old Psycho rip-offs that William Castle and Joan Crawford use to make. X was a cool and sleazy little slasher. Pearl delivers in the horror department, but something tells me it will stand the test of time, thanks to Goth’s performance.
X went for the jugular. Pearl goes for the heart.
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