Pearl Movie Review

Pearl (2022)

Rent Pearl on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Ti West & Mia Goth, Ti West (based on characters created by)
Directed by: Alex Kurtzman
Starring: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
In 1918, a young woman on the brink of madness pursues stardom in a desperate attempt to escape the drudgery, isolation, and lovelessness of life on her parents' farm.

Verdict
It's a slasher that at least provides a story and a reason for what unfolds. It's better than the first movie in the franchise, and the style is certainly intriguing. The problem is that a movie is more than the visuals, and this story is shallow though it does have its moments.
It depends.

Review
After watching the first movie X, I had to watch the follow up prequel. West and Goth came up with this story during the filming of X originally as backstory for the title character. West is working on a third movie in the franchise MaXXXine, anticipated to release in 2024.

This starts off very colorful and saturated with a look and tone of a much older movie which fits the time period of this movie. From the beginning, this is clearly focused on style.

Mia Goth plays Pearl

Pearl (Mia Goth) is a teen that wants to be a star, but her overbearing mother would rather she put more thought into working on the farm. During chores Pearl kills a goose and feeds it to what I guess is her pet gator. That doesn't get much explanation, and I would guess it's inclusion is due solely to being shown in the first movie. Her dream is stardom, but it seems that she might be too naive. When she meets a projectionist in town after sneaking out to see a movie, I really thought that interaction was going to go much differently.

Mia Goth plays Pearl

I wondered why Pearl's mom is so bitter, but it seems it might be the mother's grief and disdain for her own life as she has to care for her invalid husband. The mother seems to blame Pearl, taking out her frustrations on Pearl. A fight between Pearl and her mother is the breaking point.

This culminates in a dance competition at a church which seems like an odd location. Pearl sees winning this as her way out of this town, and at this point in the movie her way to leave her misdeeds behind. We finally see whether Pearl's ability is all that's been described. Pearl delivers a lengthy monologue, unloading all of her feelings on her sister-in-law who has no idea how to respond. The movie culminates in Pearl becoming a full fledged horror movie villain with nods to at least a couple different movies.