Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“In 1918, a young woman on the brink of madness pursues stardom in a desperate attempt to escape the drudgery, isolation and lovelessness of life on her parents’ farm.” Director: […]
“In 1918, a young woman on the brink of madness pursues stardom in a desperate attempt to escape the drudgery, isolation and lovelessness of life on her parents’ farm.”
Director: Ti West
Writers: Ti West, Mia Goth
Staring: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Alistair Sewell, Amelia Reid
Release Date: September 26, 2022
IMDB
If you were to do a horror movie double feature date night, Ti West and Mia Goth have you covered. After the rousing success of X (2022), the duo returns for a prequel exploring the evolution of the murderous Pearl. Origin stories have been done before, but origin stories that shift their tone 180 degrees from their original premise are hard to come by. Pearl (2022) doesn’t delve into the shock factor like X. Rather it steeps in angst, sorrow, despair and desperation. Pearl won’t have you on the edge of your seat scored, but it will have you curled up in a ball, under a blanket, murmuring to yourself “Oh no. Oh no. Oh No.“
Pearl wants to be a star. She wants to break free of the shackles of the farm where she is living with her mother Ruth (Tandi Wright) and her wheelchair bound father (Matthew Sunderland). Pearl has the anchor of her parents, and the absence of her husband, Howard. Howard is off fighting in the war, leaving his partner to fight for herself. Pearl is in constant peril of losing herself and she eventually the begins to lose ground on reality. She meets a local man from town that spurns thoughts she shouldn’t be having, and that starts a cascade of events resulting in an ending both known and shocking.
There is the plot of Pearl. Important sure. But not as important as the star of the show, Mia Goth.
Goth is simply outstanding. The horror movie performance since Toni Collette in Hereditary (2018). Mia Goth, stand up and relish in the rounds of applause from everyone who watches this movie. What Goth did in X was interesting enough on its own, playing the two parts and exploring the duality of self preservation and vanity. In Pearl, Goth embraces the different mood of the movie and pushes the gas pedal and forces the audience to buckle in for searing amounts of discomfort and dread. Goth manages to make the character Pearl unpredictable even when the scenes beats are predictable.
When Pearl does her dance audition and fails to get selected by the jury, could you comfortably say you knew what was going to happen next? We knew that she wasn’t going to get the part. That is the through line we know the character Pearl in this iteration and also in X. But could she have just slaughtered all of the judges? Would it become a revenge tale of her going to all their homes and dancing on their newly dug graves? No, Pearl goes outside and cries. It is a sad moment, in a movie that is filled with immense amounts of sorrow.
This is Pearl right after her dreams are shattered. She is broken, not only in mental stability, but also spiritually. Hope of escaping out to fame kept her veil of calm and normal in place for unsuspecting onlookers. Now that veil is taken off of her face and soon after she looks into the mirror of her own twisted mind and sounds out all of the misery she has lived through and put onto others.
Cue the best scene in the movie.
How could I be responsible for another life. Life terrifies me. It’s harsh, and bleak, and draining.”
This monologue is unreal. Insanely good. Every time I watch this speech I feel like I am Ti West on set just pumping his fist knowing that we he has is gold. There are numerous points in speech where the camera could have cut away to Mitsy reacting to the egregious things Pearl is monologuing about. Pearl even asks Mitsy rhetorical questions and there could have been an artistic choice to have Mitsy try and speak but be cut off by Pearl. But Goth is too good. You can’t take the ball out of her court. The start of her speech going back and forth is like an offense working through a half court set well, but by the end its iso ball, and Goth is dropping buckets on everyone watching.
Pearl is not a conventional horror (if you want to call it that) movie by any means, but there was a part in the movie where I West and company were going to fall into a pitfall. We meet the Projectionist (David Corenswet) and he shows Pearl a brand new world of pornography. He is kinda to Pearl, and it all seemed. to be setting up to a nice guy isn’t really so nice twist that would send Pearl over the edge.
But on the contrary. The Projectionist is not an asshole. The Projectionist is a normal dude who gets caught up in whirlwind that is Pearl’s internal tempest. He sees the situation he is putting himself in and he wants an easy exit, and he tries really hard when leaving Pearl’s home. He lies and tries to be kind, but Pearl demands the truth. And the truth is that Pearl is scaring him.
And his death. It is almost slapstick. It is vaudevillian. The over-the-top screaming of Goth orating that she won’t stay on the farm partnered with the stunned silence of The Projectionist is enough to get a twisted smile on your face. It’s an odd thing to have a weird chuckle watching the “good guy” get butchered.
Pearl is a truly unique movie because it walks the tight wire of seriousness. The movie has just enough comical, clownish moments mixed in with the real terror of burning flesh, parental murders and pike impalements. The bright colors, extra big smiles, and daylight setting of Pearl are reminders that even when everything is literally visible there is still and curdling under current thats simmering and waiting to come out.
Is Pearl a little bit like Joker (2019)? Both feature a demented main character trying to live out a dream of being a somebody and being an entertainer. Their fake life of contentment is shattered when their chance to make it big falls through and a new romantic relationship is realized to be feeble.
There are also some Taxi Driver (1976) connections you can draw to both movies. In Joker, it is the vibe and the visual splendor that reminds people of the grimy guck that is New York City (or Gotham, whatever you want). Joker also has Robert De Niro, the original city psycho, getting gunned down by the new generation. Pearl has a first date that involves pornography on the first date; the major difference between Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) and Pearl in this scenario is that Betsy is wise to the social norms while Pearl has learned underneath a rock for her entire life. Also The Projectionist is earnest about this new medium of entertaining and how it is going to change the world, and Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is the audience that that The Projectionist was talking about in Pearl.
Lets jet Pearl and Arthur on a dating show and see what happens.
One other note on Pearl before I wrap up. Why is it that two of the men have names in this movie? Father is called “Father.” The Projectionist is called “The Projectionist.” The only man that is named is Howard…and he is absent for 95% of the movie. I would love to ask why West and Goth made that decision. Pearl herself does kill her father and The Projectionist, and Howard is alive come the films end, but what is meaning behind it?
Ti, Mia, if you are reading this, let me know.
It is impossible not to watch Pearl and compare it to X.
Speaking strictly for myself, I prefer X over Pearl, but I think Pearl is a better made movie. Does that make sense? X is more rewatchable, but Pearl has higher peaks.
Regardless of what type of horror your like, Pearl and Ti West announces themselves as some of the best things in the genre in recent memory. Check out Pearl as fast as you can, but first decide whether or not you want to watch it before or after X. That’s the only thing you need to question.
STANKO RATING: B+
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