Rent Pearl (2022)

Very Clever - Pearl review by sb

FILM & WATCHED Been after this one for ages and it doesn’t disappoint. Just out in the UK so no real details but it’s the prequal to West and Goth’s X where she played the dual role including the old lady who goes on a murderous spree. This takes us back to 1918 with Pearl as a young girl growing up on a strict family farm while dreaming of a life in the movies….and heaven help anyone who tries to foil her plans…. It’s deliberately shot like a 1950’s melodrama so beloved of Douglas Sirk with soaring strings , wide screen vistas and screen wipes…oh and with considerable use of axes and pitchforks. Goth (who co-wrote it ) is superb as the wide eyed innocent with psychotic undertones just bubbling under the surface. It’s shot through with a very black humour and well worth seeking out -4/5

Clever Horror With Great Central Performance - Pearl review by GI

This prequel to X (2022) is a better film. I was underwhelmed by X and whilst its homage to 70s horror was evident and fun it was a basic slasher film. However Pearl is a far more interesting and entertaining film for one specific reason and that's the performance of Mia Goth as the title character. In a narrative that is fairly average in that it's a 'birth of the killer' story she makes this film highly watchable as she combines a sort of earthy Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz with a Jack Torrance from The Shining. It's 1918 and the First World War is coming to an end. Pearl is an 18 year old girl living and working on her parents farm. Her husband is still overseas in the army and Pearl resents the confines of her life dominated by her German immigrant and very devout mother (Tandi Wright) and she dreams of escape and becoming a dancer. A casual affair followed by rejection of a local man pushes Pearl over the edge into a psychopathic rage. Her descent into this is hinted at from the early stages of the film almost like a fuse is lit and we watch her gradually push away any restraints. There is gore and when it comes it's a shock as the film resists too much for quite awhile. This is a more accomplished and interesting film than its predecessor and Goth's grandiose performance is captivating. She deserves an award for the 8 minute horrific monologue she delivers and the forced facial smile she delivers during the closing credits. An actress that dominates this film and raises it above its otherwise routine narrative. If like me you didn't rate X that highly you maybe surprised by this film, it's rather good.

An intelligent and fascinating descent into rustic horror in deepest America - Pearl review by Philip in Paradiso

In 1918, Pearl (Mia Goth, absolutely sensational) is a young woman who lives with her parents (of German extraction) on the family farm, in Texas. Pearl is married but her husband, Howard, is away in Europe, fighting in the First World War, which is nearing its end. Pearl's father is paralyzed and an infirm. Pearl's mother, Ruth, is very strict with her daughter, treating her as if she were still a young teenager. The family are isolating themselves to protect against the devastating Spanish flu pandemic. Pearl feels trapped on this isolated farm, constantly being watched by her mother, and having to look after her sick father. She dreams of becoming a film star or a chorus girl - a life and career she imagines glamorous and exciting, based on what she has seen in movies. (There is a cinema in the nearby town, where she manages to see feature films from time to time, against her mother's advice.) The film develops from there.

The film is about Pearl: a young woman who is caught between repression (life on the farm and her tyrannical mother) and temptation (the world outside, the nearby town, the movies and her fantasies). That tension informs every twist and turn in the plot. This is a remarkable film, if only because of the spectacularly good acting on the part of Mia Goth, who is fascinating, frightening and amazing all at once. But all the actors in the movie are excellent, and the atmosphere that is created is simply overwhelming. This is done in a very sophisticated way, with a riveting plot that is carefully and intelligently constructed. In a nutshell, within the parameters of the genre, it is a masterpiece, but it is not for the faint-hearted.