PEARL (2022)
a review by Evan Landon
Needless to say, if you have never seen X, it would behoove you to do so before reading this review. If you have not or you just do not care if I ruin this movie for you, let's just chalk this up to a faux pas on your part because this might be the only warning you get for these next two paragraphs and possibly both movies because I might as well run the gamut with this trilogy. You have been warned!
So, after meeting her demise at the hands of Maxine at the end of X, not much was known about the elderly antagonist of the film, Pearl (both played brilliantly by Mia Goth). What we did learn was merely inferred; she was an elderly, psycho-bitch that was jealous of the porn stars fucking in her guest house. Simplicity sometimes is the medicine that a story needs. Well, even though it was not really needed, or given enough time to even be warranted, we get the character's entire backstory!
There really should not be any unnecessary prologues or unplanned sequels, so it is nice to see one that had planned and green lit before the studio even really knew what kind of franchise they had on their hands. That takes some balls right there. Kudos, A24. God, I love them. Never change!
In this story, Pearl is a young girl living on a farm in 1918 Texas with her German immigrant parents, dreaming of being a star of the silver screen whilst her betrothed is away at war. Through a number of very psychotic episodes, such as bathing in front of her paralyzed father, almost pushing him into the nearby lake for the gator to chomp on, humping a scarecrow, smashing baby eggs, then ultimately leveling up to murder, we see the depraved human that grows up to be the elderly, murderous psychopath introduced to the viewing audience in it's predecessor.
I like this one for a lot of reasons, mostly because of how even though it is in the same universe, it has a different feel completely than X. From the soundtrack and music stings to the shooting the entire thing in being shot in technicolor, the whole thing takes on the production-style of a wartime picture. They even do the same screen wipes the pictures would do for serials of the time. Listening to cinematographer Eliot Rockett speak to how and why they used the equipment they did for certain shots for the desired effect is really interesting, but I won't list it all here. It is interesting though.
It would not be a proper review of this movie if I did not mention how amazing Mia Goth is as an actress. Dear Lord, this woman can act! She has really came into prominence with this series of films, so I do not see her falling off any time in the near future. The way she pulled off playing both versions of “Pearl” and “Maxine” is seamless. In X, you couldn't even tell it was prosthetics to make her age into the older version until you start looking for that in particular. She gets a co-writer credit for Pearl because it was put together rather quickly to film back-to-back with X when writer/director Ti West found out about the COVID shutdown. You can clearly see and hear it in her 6 minute monologue at the end. Her maniacally staring into the camera whilst the credits roll is also one of the most unnerving, imaginative things I have seen a film do in a long time.
At $8 million, the $10.1 million return at the box office does not reflect how many people actually saw it due to the world shutting down over the world crisis. A lot of movies and movie theaters suffered for it, whether you agree with the worldwide mandate or not.
Kudos on the production and screenplay put together in such a short amount of time. It looks like it was thought out way ahead of time which makes it super special to me. This is how one does a prequel.
3.5 Out Of 5