I reviewed X a few months back having seen it for the first time and thought it something of a disappointment. I gave it a second watch and enjoyed it a little more because I was able to appreciate some of the dialogue and visual framing of the shots. I still think it could have been better than it is, and I still stand by my opinion that X should have looked more like an exploitation film. Nonetheless, I didn’t hate X enough to feel like I should just write off any prequels or sequels, so when the opportunity to watch Pearl presented itself, I thought it was worth a shot.

Pros

Mia Goth acts her ass off and gets to really own the role
Good acting from the rest of the cast
The tone and style of the film mesh better than X
Pearl’s monologue
The character of Pearl is more realized and sympathetic
Some special effects look good

Cons

The style and tone could have been explored a little more and expanded upon beyond the credits and occasional dance sequence
Sound editing didn’t always match up
Historical inaccuracies with slang and technology for the era
Some special effects should have been left out of the film because they look a little goofy or cheap

Plot & Thoughts

It’s 1918. World War I is coming to a close and American troops are on their way home. Pearl (Mia Goth)—the primary antagonist from X—is a young lady who wants to escape her boring life on the farm with her overbearing mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), and her ailing, paralyzed father (Mathew Sunderland) to travel the country dancing. She enjoys going to the movie theaters to see the silent pictures of dancing troupes, as well as pretending she’s a big dance star on stage. She has big dreams and aspirations, some of which hinge on her being able to go to a dance tryout at the local church so she might be able to finally escape the harsh rule of her mother and live her dream. Also, she has some violent tendencies that start with just killing a few animals, but very quickly switch to targeting any humans who get in her way of achieving her dreams.

Pearl is a movie I have a far easier time recommending than X. The tone that Pearl is evoking, while still mostly just surface level in a way that is similar to X, comes through a little more prominently. The opening credits with the sweeping music and stylized fonts that would be appropriate for any movie from the 1930s and ‘40s set the tone of the film immediately as Pearl feeds a goose she just killed to the alligator in the pond. It’s playful and self-aware while still keeping things appropriately violent for the young woman we know becomes a sex-crazed murderer. This sort of fun style isn’t constantly present throughout the movie, but the vibrantly oversaturated colors at least make much of the movie feel like something of a dream, similar to The Wizard of Oz. When Pearl gets to dance, the style really comes out and the film takes on something of a Wes Anderson personality.

Where the movie shines the most, however, is with Mia Goth’s performance. In X, she played Pearl and Maxine: two characters of significantly different ages but who had similar personality traits. She didn’t really get to do much with either in terms of trying to act as a particular character. In many ways, Maxine didn’t really have much to do or say until the horror started and Mia Goth was somewhat outshined by the other members of the cast in X.

Pearl, on the other hand, lets Mia Goth steal the show, even when performing alongside some other really good actors. Goth manages to make Pearl as empathetic in her desperate desire to get off the farm as she is terrifying when her aggressive fantasies take hold. We see the whole range of Pearl’s emotions and all their fiery intensity. When she starts killing people, she’s screaming her head off with one murder while silently and deliberately eliminating another. When the movie starts to draw to its close and Pearl gives a nearly-eight-minute monologue, Goth captures your attention and doesn’t let go as she rides the tidal wave of emotions in the body of a serial killer who is losing her mind. While there are a few cuts during the scene, one segment goes on for several minutes, pulling you into the scene and not releasing until it ends. I was stunned at how good her monologue was; it made me like the character and the movie that much more.

It’s not just Mia Goth who does a great job in Pearl. Tandi Wright is very good as her overbearing mother who is having to deal with her own trauma and growing concerns for Pearl’s behavior. Despite learning German for the role, her accent never wavered and the lines she spoke or sang in German were flawless. Ruth is an empathetic character in her own right as a woman who is trapped on the farm caring for her husband who cannot care for himself and raising a girl she realizes has mental issues. Of course, Pearl rebels and lashes out at Ruth in a way you would expect any child with big dreams to do, and we can sympathize with Pearl’s perspective, but Ruth is not wrong in her point of view either.

Where Pearl missteps at all is only really in minor nitpicks. There are a few instances where the sound seemed slightly off with what the actor was doing. In particular, there’s a scene where Pearl is bawling in her arms, and her sounds do not match what she is doing. There are also a few instances where the special effects do not look great. While the bright blood and gory makeup look good, there is a scene in which dismemberment takes place and she looks like she’s chopping up a rubber doll. It would have been better if the camera had not focused in so closely on the gory chopping-up of a body if it couldn’t look convincing. Still, these are only minor issues.

TL;DR

Pearl was a surprisingly good experience, especially in comparison to the film to which it is directly tied. It’s a horrific film about a young woman going mad and murdering people due to her own delusions of grandeur with a playful and artistic tone that meshes well. Mia Goth gives an impressively compelling performance as the titular character, especially when she delivers her lengthy monologue in which she bears all her different emotions. While I cannot necessarily recommend X, I can certainly say that I enjoyed Pearl—and you don’t have to watch X beforehand, so you can go straight to the superior film if you want.

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