Ti West’s Pearl - Movie Review
Pearl (2022) is a prequel to Ti West’s film X (2022), (reviewed a few weeks back in anticipation of the upcoming film MaXXXine), filmed immediately upon completion of the first film in New Zealand. It was co-written by West and Pearl herself, Mia Goth.
The way this movie unfolds from the start has this sort of dreamlike and nightmarish caste sometimes both running together rather than in tandem. It is a skill that West has gotten so adept in doing—even back in House of the Devil (2009)—but not to the degree of Pearl. It almost doesn’t register as a prequel at first; visually, it is crisp and vibrant where X had a dirty, grainy quality that Tarantino would have given a limb or two to have achieved. Some of the visuals for X actually are very evocative of both Tarantino and forgive me, Rob Zombie’s first film, House of 1000 Corpses, where the aesthetic was dripping with bleeding colors and bold actions.
Co-writer and star of Pearl, Mia Goth - image via IMDB
Pearl & X
Pearl has a different feel and delivery than X and that is eternally in its favor. It plays very much like a film from the ‘30s and ‘40s. Pearl has none of the grindhouse techniques that made X such a delight to watch as that film evoked The Texas Chain Saw Massacre while this is more akin to The Wizard of Oz. The comparison of these two movies may seem like a stretch, but X doesn’t hide its crooked little heart; you know what you’re in for when you begin that film. Pearl doesn’t tell you anything.
West wants you to feel something for the lead character. From the opening credits, the impression given is that this is going to be a happy, cheery film and in spots that is the vibe it absolutely wants to give the audience. The keyword of course is wants, but that is wishful thinking. Beautiful, color-popping title cards declaring that you are indeed watching PEARL! The sweeping score that accompanies the title sequence is so lovely, you wonder if you are watching the movie you’d just sat down to see.
The Pearl we meet here is in 1918 Texas. The Spanish Flu grips the world in pandemic protocol for the time—just as the filming of Pearl and X were both filmed in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pearl is helping to care for her paralyzed father, working the family farm, and clashing on the regular with her stern German mother, Ruth. Her husband Howard is serving overseas in World War I and the early indicators are that Howard is in a much safer place there than at home with his missus.
She bikes into town to pick up medication for her dad and stops to see the movie playing at the local theater. She catches the eye of the projectionist (played by David Corenswet) who is charming in a swarthy way, but then again, so is Pearl.
From almost the first appearance of Pearl (perhaps even before because we know what she eventually becomes), we know there is something not quite right with her. The movie never directly addresses her issues, although it is open to amateur diagnosis. This is a strength as it doesn’t need to assume what Pearl’s deficits are; mental illness is too often used as a scapegoat for horror films in this vein and West again goes out of his way to not speculate.
On her way home from her trip into town, Pearl makes a stop to have a fantastical sexual tryst with a scarecrow—no, really—in a scene that is straight out of a hilarious nightmare. Mia Goth summons her previous performance as Maxine to go full throttle as Pearl. Her performance in this scene raises the bar for everything else that comes after, and that bar is set high.
Pearl has a penchant for killing small farm animals, conversing loudly with the larger animals, feeding her beloved alligator, Theda (see X), torturing her invalid father in a variety of ways, and brutalizing her mother Ruth, played with ferocity by Tandi Wright.
All of this is almost casually drizzled over the first thirty minutes or so and you realize that this movie is an origin story for the ages. Sometimes, origin stories are not only useless, but once revealed, unwelcome. For example, when done correctly, you get a film like Pearl. However, the alternative is when you get two lackluster Exorcist prequels for the price of one. This movie would be an exception to that line of thought and thankfully made by the folks who set the character up in the first place. (Another exception would be the recent The First Omen.) Once all the pieces are set, West and Goth take to not only knocking them down but decimating them bit by bit.
There are so many iconic scenes in this film that to mention any more of them in this review would deny you the delight and discomfort that awaits you. The peak of this film isn’t the audition, or what happens to Ruth, or the projectionist or the roast pig…it’s a monologue near the end of the film, before the climax, where an unbroken eight-minute speech from Pearl that is at once heartbreaking and terrifying. It’s a beautiful and intimate scene between Pearl and her sister-in-law Mitsy. This scene alone elevates this film from being a run of the mill filler prequel, and what immediately follows stomps the gas pedal until the haunting conclusion.
West and Goth have created a wondrous and uncomfortable world that will be worth another visit in July when MaXXXine is unleashed upon the world. I hope to see you there.
Article by Nelson Pyles
Nelson W. Pyles is an author, musician, podcast creator and voice actor living in Pittsburgh. He has written two novels and is currently working on his third. His second collection of short stories, essays and articles All These Steps Lead Down will be released in Summer 2024 from Cold War Radio Press. He is a member of the HWA. You can find Nelson at https://whatnelsonwrites.com/
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