Pearl

By: Jamie Steinberg

Pearl is dark. Mia Goth goes in tense (to say the least) as a farm girl in 1918 whose husband is away at war. She cares for her aging parents (Tandi Wright and Matthew Sunderland) while occasionally sneaking off to watch a silent film. She’s desperate to become a performer – to enjoy the adoration of being an entertainer (someone that hides behind their true self). However, that’s where the good-girl façade ends. She impales her pet duck and feeds it to a croc and fantasizes about her husband exploding in a mine. I told you it gets dark…Goth excels as the twisted titular character and makes this movie a mind blowing, creepy concoction.

Throughout the film Pearl gives us clues into her psyche to which viewers should pay attention. “The whole world is going to know my name, I don’t like reality and “All I want is to be loved,” are clear declarations of her inner self making its way to the surface. Goth makes these moments calculated and are at the climax of times where Pearl is left feeling rejected and frustrated. It’s what makes the kills effective.

Director Ti West and Goth wrote this prequel to X with plenty of bloodshed and a splash of humor. Cinematographer Eliot Rockett shares a storybook world in Technicolor that adds to Pearl’s idealism and the world she lives in. However, he also impresses with the less than light side of her life when she steps into her home – a world of isolation and servitude for her parents.

For those that love gore with a bit of humor splashed alongside of it, be sure to explore Pearl. Mia Goth shines and director West does an exceptional job of scaring the audience while still entertaining.