{"id":144847,"date":"2023-03-18T09:25:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T23:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/?p=144847"},"modified":"2023-03-18T09:25:55","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T23:25:55","slug":"pearl-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/pearl-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Pearl – movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Ti West\u2019s prequel to X<\/a> (2022), Pearl (Mia Goth) is a star in the making \u2013 at least in her own head.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 1918, and the combination of WWI and the Spanish flu has many on tenterhooks. Pearl\u2019s husband Howard (Alistair Sewell) \u2013 a good man \u2013 is off fighting. She lives on a farm with her hard-nosed German-born mother Ruth (Tandi Wright) and severely disabled father (Matthew Sutherland). Pearl lives in a fantasy world of dancing and dress-up. She loves nothing better than a good silent movie. But her mother won\u2019t have any of that. Money is tight and she\u2019s particularly hard on Pearl, watching her every move.<\/p>\n

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Nevertheless, one day when collecting some medicine for her father, she sneaks off to the pictures and thereafter meets the projectionist (David Corenswet), who takes an interest in her. Her sister-in-law Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro) also pays an unexpected visit and tells her about a local dance competition. Pearl decides to try out.\u00a0 She sees it as her road out of the dreary confines of farm life and on to popularity and stardom.<\/p>\n

Pearl also has an angry streak when things don\u2019t go her way. She can become dangerously violent. The more things go awry the more her behaviour deteriorates. Let\u2019s put it this way \u2013 there will be blood and plenty of it.<\/p>\n

Pearl is an engaging period horror, which nods to Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age. This most unusual movie benefits from a quirky and strangely alluring script from director West. The attention to detail in the picture immediately impresses. As mentioned, this is the prequel to X \u2013 which was set in 1979 \u2013 and was shot back-to-back with it at the same location.<\/p>\n