Pearl (Mini-Review)

Pearl is a prequel to X. This prequel follows Pearl when she still dreams of leaving the farm and having a better life elsewhere. On the farm she feels burdened with taking care of her ailing father and taking orders from her overbearing mother. She also feels abandoned by Howard, her husband, who went off to fight in the first World War. When Mitzy, her sister-in-law, tells her about a dance audition Pearl thinks all of her problems are solved. But when her murderous tendencies start to get the better of her, it seems her dreams may have to remain just dreams. Pearl was released in 2022. It was directed by Ti West. It stars Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, and Emma Jenkins-Purro.

I knew Pearl was coming in the future as there was a teaser for it at the end of X. But I somehow forgot both movies were shot back to back and so was surprised about the quickness of Pearl's release. I'm glad that there wasn't that much time to wait for this prequel.

This movie, if you take out the horror element, is really just a coming of age story. Pearl learns a valuable lesson we all have to by the end. She also...er...makes mistakes on her way and has to deal with those consequences. I can't say what mistakes or lessons I'm talking about as those would be major spoilers. If I ever make a spoiler post about Pearl I'll talk about this interpretation in detail.

The movie's tone is mixed in the best of ways. It has the feel of a movie from the golden age of Hollywood but is also clearly a horror movie. In other hands this conflict of tone could be off-putting or a reason to walk out of the theater, but West makes it work. The conflict of tone draws you in and makes the movie much more interesting than it otherwise would have been. It is at once a beautiful and calming film while also being disturbing. The opening and closing credits imitate the golden age of Hollywood perfectly.

There is a post-credits teaser for the next movie in this series. This time following Maxine and set after X.

Pearl's motives in this movie are easy to understand and makes her more human. Her father can't do anything on his own and must rely on her for everything. The mother also helps out which may explain why she is so hard on her daughter. Then there is a pandemic going on which makes her mother paranoid about coming down with it. Living through Covid-19 has made me really understand the strain a pandemic can put on a person. I'm an adult so she would be feeling that strain ten times worse. The first scene of the movie shows Pearl killing a duck just because it happened to annoy her. It could be that the mental strain Pearl was experiencing brought this instinct out of her but it's more likely that she was born that way.

I would highly recommend Pearl to those who loved X. I would also recommend Pearl to those who love horror. Finally, I would recommend Pearl to fans of Ti West.