Pearl (2022) Review

"I do love a good audience."
-Pearl



This prequel to X tells us the origin story of X's killer, Pearl (Mia Goth).  As a young woman stuck living on a farm, Pearl had dreams to becoming a star.  Unfortunately, Pearl's mother and the rest of the world seemed to be against Pearl achieving her dreams.  Desperate, Pearl turned to murder in order to find a way to stardom.


What Works:

Pearl is a movie that deeply appeals to me.  It's shot and starts off with the tone of a classic Hollywood film.  Think something like The Wizard of Oz.  The movie begins with Pearl talking to farm animals about her dreams of becoming a star.  Knowing what we know about Pearl, this all feels very surreal.  Of course, this movie has a dark and twisted edge to it, but still manages to hold onto the classic Hollywood feel.  I love this twist on a classic genre and director Ti West makes it work incredibly well.

Mia Goth gets to show off a wide range of depth for the character of Pearl.  We got to know her pretty well in X, but we get even more development here.  This movie is less of a slasher film and more of a character study.  Fortunately, Pearl is a really interesting character and more than holds my interest for the entire runtime.

The highlight is the extended monologue Pearl delivers near the end of the film.  It's a show-stopping performance from Goth.  She goes on for minutes and it's actually insane that she was able to hold the character for that long.  Particularly someone as deranged as Pearl.  I am not exagerating when I say Mia Goth should be, at the very least, nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars.

Finally, while murder and gore aren't nearly as much of the focus as they were in X, we still get some nice gore near the end of the film.  We get to see Pearl chopping up a body and it's some nice and nasty blood and guts.  And I always appreciate references to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which we also get near the end.


What Sucks:

I got nothing for ya.


Verdict:

This may be a hot take, but I actually liked Pearl more than X.  Pearl is a deeply interesting and unsettling character who is played to perfection by Mia Goth.  It's one of the best performances I've seen in any movie all year.  Plus the mix of horror and classic Hollywood is absolutely inspired.  Ti West directed the hell out of this and it feels like he made it specifically for me.  I know not everyone will love this one, but give this one a watch.  Maybe you'll love it as much as me.  Pearl has absolutely got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing 

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