There’s far too much murdering and dismembering to call Pearl “fun,” but I do get a kick out of how the movie came about. While filming X, in which Mia Goth plays one half of an older farm couple with violent hobbies, director Ti West and Goth developed an elaborate backstory for Goth’s character. That became Pearl, a prequel written by West and Goth and filmed immediately after X wrapped production. X certainly benefits from Pearl; it provides a more coherent vision, rooted in character, that the first film lacked. And Goth, given a rare opportunity to revisit and deepen a screen character, takes advantage. Though a young married woman, Pearl remains stuck on her family farm with her invalid father and repressive mother, because her husband Howard (Alistair Sewell) has left to fight in World War I. The family dynamics don’t help Pearl’s mental state, but the movie suggests that Pearl was deeply broken from birth. (Isn’t cruelty to animals usually a bad sign?) In any case, Goth evokes a certain amount of sympathy, while also tightrope-walking through a series of eyebrow-raising sequences, including her seduction of a scarecrow. The movie loses some of its distinctiveness once the murders start, even as West and cinematographer Eliot Rockett give everything a cheery, Technicolor sheen, amplified by Tyler Bates and Tim Williams’ swelling score. Watching Pearl, the first movie I thought of was The Wizard of Oz. This is as if Dorothy got sucked up by a tornado and dropped down in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre—holding the chainsaw.
(1/16/2023)
