Rating of
3/4
You are a star!
Matthew Brady - wrote on 10/16/22
“I want to be loved by as many people as possible. But truth is I’m not really a good person.”
Martin Scorsese is correct; this was uncomfortable to watch.
With this movie being a prequel to ‘X’, this does answer certain things in X that I think will add extra depth on a second watch. Even so, I liked ‘Pearl’ a lot more. With ‘X’ being a throwback to 1970/80s slasher movies, this film felt more character driven.
'Pearl' was more disturbing, not in terms of blood and gore, but whenever Pearl has a meltdown, it's incredibly intense, mixed with her unhealthy fantasy of being loved and seen. On top of that, her reaction when things don’t go her way is scary.
Mia Goth is phenomenal in this movie. She is up there with Toni Collette in ‘Hereditary’ and Lupita Nyong'o in ‘Us’. A shame that the Academy Awards are dismissive of horror movies because I think she is worthy of a nomination. There’s a part in this movie where Goth delivers a monologue with no cuts, the camera is focused on her, and it is spellbinding.
Another actor I want to mention is Tandi Wright, she plays Pearl's mother named Ruth, who I thought was great as well, and a fun film fact, Wright had to learn German for the role in a short amount of time and became so convincing in her accent that she managed to fool two German members of the crew.
Most of the horror happens in broad daylight, similar to ‘Midsommar’. The closing credits for this were the creepiest in recent memory.
