Pearl

Oh, Ti West. That man must have a huge set of balls, because Pearl is absolutely like, what the fuck?! I mean that in the best way possible.

Before the South by Southwest premiere of his porno horror X, everyone was buzzing about what West had in store for us. What we got was a bit of nasty seXploitation that was a throwback to the grimy films of the Seventies, like Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre meets Deep Throat. After the film, West announced he had something else to show us, and it was then we were told of the prequel to X called Pearl. The room went bananas.

Oh my goodness, Pearl.

In a parallel to our own time, Pearl is set during the 1918 influenza pandemic. The disease hovers in the background of everyday life in this remote Texas community where X's Pearl (Goth) lives with her parents. Her mother (Wright) is a stern and strict German migrant, shunned by the community because of the war while also terrified of the sickness that abounds outside. She believes Pearl’s head is permanently in the clouds, dreaming of stardom, instead of what her daughter should be focusing on: her chores and helping take care of her incapacitated father (Sunderland). Pearl is married but her husband is off fighting in World War I. All she wants is to get the hell of out Dodge. She lives in a fantasyland of desire, longing, and temptation. Pearl wants to be adored.

There are moments in Pearl where it evokes thoughts of Blue Velvet, like it has the same color palette. And like in Blue Velvet, West is presenting an idyllic façade with something not quite right underneath. Also, as in Lynch films, there are Wizard of Oz references, like Pearl riding her bike along a road filled with rows of corn, even down to the scarecrow reigning over his field. One can almost hear the Wicked Witch of the West cackling as she pedals along.

If X is a loving homage to the slasher/sexploitation genre, Pearl is a loving homage to early Hollywood films, from the sweeping score to the bathed-in-Technicolor nightmare. When the movie starts there is a black screen and then … the sound of a “projector” starts up … whirr. Yeah, that’s right, West put that in. Then for the rest of the run time, he serves us a veritable feast of good old-fashioned grindhouse glory. It might be all dolled up, but we see what’s there, underneath.

West gives us moments of pure madness with the choices he makes in Pearl. There’s a scene (you’ll know it when you see it) where West totally lets Mia Goth go. And go. And go. It’s like he’s edging the audience. He doesn’t stop. It’s relentless. We catch ourselves in the moment. He takes us to the precipice. It feels good at first, but we need it to stop. When it finally does, it’s a relief.

And then what does he do? He does it to us again. West dares you to look away. You wanted this. You wanted to see this and now you got it.

You want it to stop.

Oh fuck, please stop.

West brings the audience to a climax twice. Twice?! Again, he’s daring you to stop looking. But we can’t.

Mia Goth, it’s her world and we’re just all living in it. If nothing else, Pearl is a showcase of the powerhouse that is Goth. She deserves all the accolades and then some. West and Goth are a lethal combination of daring and imagination, and have already announced a third collaboration, a sequel to X called MaXXXine. I can’t wait.