Pearl

The story about a young girl's life descending into madness!

Pearl is an ambitious and bold work with art-house horror sensibilities from A24 and Tie West . Pearl isn't just good , it is fabulous .This weird hidden gem is an incredible twisted character study . Mia Goth burns very bright in her role as Pearl . She acts with unbridled "wild abandon" and is not afraid to declare her self to the word. Goth is a real power house and carries this slow burn of a film ; She deserves all the accolades and then some. Co-scripting with her director, Goth is the standout. I must know watch "X" as Pearl is a prequel to that film which is on my shelf in Blu-ray !!! P. S. This film reminds me of " Darling"

Pearl is a serious, deliriously messed-up psychodrama with an amazing musical score, period piece accurate 1917 wardrobe and vintage early cars Terrific cinematography and disturbing imagery . A heavily Stylized slasher with some suburb kills that yield some tantalizing gory effects. This film won me over as it starts off as a very slow burn ! As the character study progresses and also the performance of Pearls overbearing mother played by talented Tandi Wright ;I found the merit of the film sneaks up on you ! It is terrifically accomplished and horribly gripping . 8.5/10

Note: You must stay a watch the closing credits . It is excellent mind-f % $ k .The strained smile that Goth holds for more than three minutes behind the closing credits was a spur-of-the-moment inspiration from Ti West. He had planned to film her smiling and then choose a freeze-frame of the most unsettling shot, but at the last minute suggested "What if you hold a smile as long as you possibly can and let's see what happens?" They shot the smile, which "goes from comical to haunting to deeply disturbing the longer it continues," in one take.

Extremely entertaining throwback-appearing (think old Hollywood cinematography and score) blood-soaked origin story of a girl with big dreams. After hints of malevolence, a chain of circumstances and events leads Pearl down a dark path.

The key here is Mia Goth's performance. One minute she comes across as a sympathetic character, the next she is beyond creepy, and there are still times in this film with laughter interspersed between moments of horrific violence. Perhaps the best moment in the film is a monologue that is best described as otherworldly. Really good watch, tremendous performance.

Mia Goth delivers an impressive but somewhat misguided performance as the title character in this origin story for the main antagonist of Ti West's X. The movie is reasonably entertaining and intermittently funny. The imagery is sometimes gross; but the movie is never scary or horrifying because it fails to provide a convincing explanation for Pearl's pathology. Goth switches from "aw shucks" naive to calculating to deranged. Is she a cunning psychopath motivated by narcissism, envy and rage? Or is she an otherwise decent person spiraling into psychotic delusions? She seems to be neither and both at any given moment. Properly explored, either option would be chilling; but muddling them together make for a frustratingly inconsistent character. She's unpredictable but she's not realistic enough to be compelling.

Pearl should be praised for its visual presentation. It likens itself to that of Wizard of Oz and movies of that time, and very faithfully sticks that overall aesthetic. I also really loved the political undertones of the war and the Spanish Influenza and their influences, but not much else can be said to praise. Mia Goth is amazing as usual, and Ti West continues to prove that he is a talented voice behind the camera. The same can't be said for the writing and pacing.

In the end, it just felt very dragged out and extremely predictable. I get that it's a prequel, but nothing felt shocking or surprising. It just felt...boring, which is more of a sin than anything for a "horror" movie. I wasn't too crazy about X either. I'm glad Ti is getting the attention he deserves, and I am looking forward to see what he does next with this trilogy in Maxxxine, but I was very disappointed with Pearl. Horror is best when you go all out. This one felt very safe.

If you're looking for something exciting and unpredictable, go see Barbarian.

Many who liked "X" will probably find themselves disappointed with this prequel, as it never comes close to reaching the levels of shock and intensity that the former reached.

In fact, "Pearl" isn't really a horror film at all (let alone a slasher), but rather a slow-paced descent-into-madness character study that uses it's brutal violence sparingly. And it's a great character study at that.

If you're ok with that, then you're in for a psychological treat.

Highest praise must be given to Mia Goth. She co-wrote the screenplay this time around and it's clear she understands the character profoundly. Her performance is terrifying. On a dime, she is able to flip from sweet & innocent to bloodthirsty & vengeful to remorseful and empathetic all within the same scene, sometimes even within the same shot.

It is, no hyperbole, one of the best lead performances I have ever seen in the genre.

When the protagonist of your story is a murdering psychopath, obviously there is a risk of alienating the audience. But that never happened because the script keeps all of Pearl's actions rooted in the festering grudges she holds toward her unfulfilling responsibilities and the subjectively monotonous life that she feels anchored to.

Pearl remains a sympathetic character because she is written as what a lot of us would become if we snapped and acted on every thought we had in our minds.

Lastly, the cinematography and other visual choices elevate the journey of madness we are following by adding surreal, otherworldly qualities to Pearl's fantasies that she indulges.

The only complaint that I have is that some of the dialogue could have done with a bit more polish. I understand that they were trying to mimic the over-the-top style of older films, but there were times when the spoken words felt cheesy when they should have had more power.

I was not expecting it to be as psychologically hard-hitting as it was. And what an emotional gut-punch of an ending that was.

It's a great film. Ti West's best work.