About the film (courtesy of A24):
rapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl finds her ambitions, temptations, and repressions all colliding in this stunning, technicolor-inspired origin story of X’s iconic villain.
Pearl serves as a solid prequel, that we didn’t know we needed or even knew existed, to X (2022). Ti West brings an interesting style to this story that I wasn’t sure was going to work at first. It looks and feels like a production straight out of the 1950s for a good while. There are hints that something isn’t quite right with the lead character, Pearl (Mia Goth) early on, but it isn’t anything to be super alarmed about, again, early on.
Mia Goth is darn good in this particular role as she excels over what she gives in the first film. Pearl is much more about character development and the audience is made to feel many of her trials and tribulations as her true self is realized. Tandi Wright and Matthew Sunderland portray her German parents in the movie, but Wright does most of the interacting and she’s good as the stern heavy-handed matriarch the family. Being that it’s 1918, near the end of World War I and a time when the Spanish Flu was running through communities, the mother had good reason to be standoffish and isolated.
Other actors of note are Emma Jenkins-Purro, who plays Pearl’s sister-in-law and friend, Alistair Sewell (her husband whose been off fighting in the war) and David Corenswet who serves a character that complicates and empowers Pearl to the point that she finally fully awakens to realize her potential. Whether that’s good or bad, you’ll just have to see and judge for yourselves.
Pearl has all the makings of the type of movie that you just can’t look away from. And her behavior is so fascinating that you stay invested, if for nothing else, to see where the breaking point will be and what will be the end result of it. The R rating is definitely earned as the story unfolds.
And if you missed the first movie, fear not, you can just jump right in and watch them in chronological order. And has a very pleasing bonus, news recently broke that the story will indeed continue on with the announce that MaXXXine is coming soon. How about that? A third film to this very unlikely franchise in a relatively very quick timeframe.
Be sure to check out Ti West’s Pearl: An ‘X’ Origin Story and see why this prequel makes the original that much better. In theaters everywhere Friday, September 16, with early showtimes Thursday evening.
