We sent contributor and writer, Crystal, to get spooked out and share her Pearl Review & Pearl Quotes!
Pearl Review and Pearl Quotes
Pearl Review
The score opens Pearl as if this horror movie were instead a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical as the music theatrically swells across each establishing shot. The picturesque production design of the film, set in the Texas countryside of the early 20th century, creates a beautiful juxtaposition against its murderous plot.
Pearl (Mia Goth) is different from those around her in many ways, but she is convinced the most important way is that she is different; that she is destined to be a star. A farm girl her entire life, Pearl helps her mother care for her infirm father and all the animals on the farm. As her parents are German immigrants in the United States during the First World War, their ostracization from the farming community and thus the economy, has made their existence on the farm even more difficult, further exacerbated by the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.
Now more than ever, Pearl is ready to make her break, but a few people stand in her way. Between her family, the projectionist at the local theater, and some church folks, Pearl learns not everyone sees her star’s brightness. Many of the people Pearl encounters in her life see her as a sweet and ambitious young lady, but her mother knows differently. Those around her begin to know the Dorothy persona Pearl has presented is a façade to cloak her Wicked Witch of the West. As Pearl reveals herself, the unsuspecting town folk begin to reflect their fear of Pearl on their faces. She does not handle their terrified rejection well.
Pearl’s genre-bending talents make you question the dynamics it creates, making for a visual language of a film that deftly pays homage to the early iteration of moving pictures and the sensibilities of The Wizard of Oz, all while containing the elements of a bloody slasher. Never too predictable and entrancingly unique, any Horror fan should check out Pearl.
Pearl arrives in theaters on September 16th. Check out the trailer here!
Pearl Quotes
Pearl to a scarecrow: “May I have this dance?”
Projectionist: “I’m what more civilized people call Bohemian.”
Pearl: “What’s that?”
Projectionist: It means I can pick up and go wherever I want.”
Pearl: “That sounds like a dream.”
Projectionist: “As long as I don’t have to wake up.”
Pearl’s Mother: “You cannot hide your true self forever.”
Pearl: “I hope you know what it feels like because that’s what it felt like every time you looked at me.”
Pearl: “The truth is, I’m not a good person.”
Pearl: “All I want is to be loved. I’m having such a hard time without it lately.”
About Pearl
Filmmaker Ti West returns with another chapter from the twisted world of X, in this astonishing follow-up to the year’s most acclaimed horror film. Trapped 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.
STARRING
MIA GOTH
DAVID CORENSWET
DIRECTED BY
TI WEST