Film Review — “Pearl”
Spoiler Alert for “X”
Pearl (Mia Goth) is back! She’s younger, crazier, and still freaky.
Set in 1918, the movie takes place in the same Texas farmhouse as the first movie and follows a young Pearl who struggles to live the simple farm life with her controlling mother and disabled father as she dreams to be a dancer in the movies.
It hasn't been long since we've been in director Ti Wests and Mia Goths' “X-world”. Pearl came out just six months after the first movie (X) of the series due to Pearl getting an early green light from studio A24 and then filming back-to-back with the first.
Goth returns as Pearl, and this time around she gets co-writer credit alongside Ti West who is again serving as director. While I thought she was magnificent at portraying old Pearl and Maxine in the previous installment, she becomes a juggernaut in this one. Goth takes the helm and becomes what Pearl wants to be, a star.
Goth performance and the movie itself are an homage to the golden era of films like the Wizard of Oz and Marry Poppins…just with bloody murder being the center point.
Pearl is not the only crazy thing about this movie. Tyler Bate returns to compose but he brought a friend, fellow composer Timothy Williams (Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2). The result is a terrifying yet inspiring score that has me rooting for Pearl but at the sometime scared of her as she goes down this path being a murderer.
The movie takes a bit to start up and it left me waiting for something to happen but once it did, it's a party with Pearl being the host. While the kills were shot beautifully, the ones in X stuck with me more maybe because they really came out of nowhere. I mean, they smack you in the face.
This origin story elevates the character of Pearl and I hope Goth becomes the new horror “It Girl”. A third installment is already underway titled “ MaXXXine”, a sequel to the first film where Goth will reprise Maxine. I’m gonna miss Pearl, but I could see a potential sequel where it takes place right after the events of this film with Edward & Pearl dealing with their relationship now that Pearl is a serial killer.
4/5
