Ti West’s surprise prequel and origin story for the earlier ‘X’ is a technicolor saturated descent into madness, centered around an absolute tour de force performance from Mia Goth. While her appearances in X demonstrated skill, here she delivers an absolutely mesmerizing, tragic and haunting performance that will linger far after the credits have rolled. The trilogy’s themes on the nature of stardom and the drive it inspires and damage it inflicts to those who seek it are more narrowly focused on the latter. Like with X, there’s copious amount of care and attention given to an examination of era cinema and influence, yet jettisoning the need to apply some kind of ‘retro’ filter. There is a conscious effort to invoke shades of ‘Wizard of Oz’ down the costuming and a rather bizarre interlude with a scarecrow. This movie is gorgeous, vibrantly hued and with stunning cinematography and costuming that play wonderfully against each other. There’s a vivid contrast between the colorful, vibrant exteriors and the dark and foreboding interior, a visual metaphor for Pearl’s internal conflict. The last shot of the film is absolute perfection in its haunting, unsettling madness and a praiseworthy testament to Goth’s skill alone. The film is not particularly scary, there’s a lot of gore and some rather excellent kills, but the true horror lies in watching Pearl’s dreams and nightmares slowly subsume her sense of self and reality. Which film one prefers is to personal taste, but I certainly feel this is the better film, and not just because it features Pearl’s alligator pet. While Ti West’s retro-indulgent excesses are to personal taste, his offerings this year have thus far been wildly entertaining, leaving one eager to see how MaXXXine closes out this particular trilogy.
Pearl (2022)