MOVIE REVIEW: PEARL

Mia Goth may not be the most attractive actress to me, but that didn’t stop Florence Pugh from making memorable performances with A24 (“Midsommar”), so why should something as preferential as beauty barricade Goth?

Thankfully my opinion on Mia Goth’s physical appearance doesn’t hold much weight to my opinion on her acting ability, since earlier this year, I was introduced to Goth as she starred in the Mad Solar production “X”, which apparently might have marked the beginning not only with my respect for Goth’s work but also for Goth to be noted as Cudi and West’s dual muse as Uma Thurman was for Tarantino of A Band Apart before him. Note, that this horror film is directed by Ti West and Goth herself, just as “X” before it. And with films like this, it appears that Cudi and his team are putting their bid in to reshape modern horror by making snuff films available to the lexicon of mainstream society.

“Pearl” is Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, backmasked and sung by a female version of Norman Bates. A stage light cast on those who live for “the fame” like Lady GAGA critiqued on her debut studio LP. The film surrounds the titular Pearl who will do anything it takes to leave her family (who lives on a farm) behind in favor of starring in film at the cusp of American cinema. The biggest problem is not Pearl’s naïveté, but her murderous tendencies that she has accrued from living in isolation with her unsupportive mother and a father who is stuck in a vegetative state.

Pearl’s biggest escape is the cinema, and as an opportunity for her to audition for a stage role comes to her small town, Pearl spirals out of control as she attempts to take advantage of what might be her only opportunity to escape a life sentence mired in mediocrity.
Though the film is set in 1918, the themes are still relevant today – with young adults (specifically in this case women) willing to do anything to be fawned for on screen worldwide, especially if the traditional stay-at-home wife role doesn’t pan out.

“Pearl” takes an up close as West constantly pans the camera in (usually either to Pearl’s face or a maggot covered hog), zooming in primarily at the pressures to succeed in the U.S. while simultaneously delving into topics concerning gender roles, the “pie in the sky ” theorem , mental illness, assisted suicides, unhealthy attachments and the importance of relationships – especially one’s sold with the myth of romance and just how impossible those relationships are to keep together with plainly sole passion itself.

Goth sells herself throughout the film, at first seeming ignorant of the world around her as the audience sees her get wrapped up in her pipe dream; but an eventual annoyance towards her naïveté turns into an overwhelming wave of pity for Pearl in instances where she gives off Oscar worthy performances when arguing with her mother, or being kicked off what looks like the origins of an American Idol stage. And if that is not enough, her confession of the murders, along with the closing credits of Goth’s grin turned into a face of abject sadness is enough to stay seared in minds of viewers.

Irregardless of a current lack of accolades, “Pearl” is yet another Ti West, Mia Goth, Mad Solar production that is bound to go down in history as a cult classic as viewers await the next installment of this edgy and eerily realistic slasher franchise.

Score : 4/5

Release date: September 16, 2022 (USA)

Director: Ti West

Screenplay: Mia Goth, Ti West

Producers: Ti West, Jacob Jaffke, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss

Editor: Ti West

Production companies: A24, BRON Creative, Little Lamb