Chronologically, Pearl is positioned as a prequel to X (2022) and shows us the origin of the villainy present in that first film. Ti West shines as director, editor, screenwriter, and producer, in a genre where creativity always exceeds the meagre means of production. Aesthetically quite different from X, Pearl brings us a masterful Mia Goth and a wink, both comedic and vicious, to The Wizard of Oz or Mary Poppins.
Mia Goth. This film revolves around the tour de force that is Mia Goth’s performance — the final monologue deserves to go on a best of list — who has received recent acclaim for her successful transformation into a Scream Queen (with Pearl, X, and Infinity Pool as three of the most recent examples). This film is the result of a close collaboration between actress and director, Ti West. With the impact of the pandemic on filmmaking, West decided to shoot two interconnected films and create a new universe in the world of slashers, each with its own aesthetic and cinematic references. If X pays homage to films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho and Boogie Nights, this film presents itself as a much more Technicolor prequel to the golden age of American cinema, taking us straight to 1918, in the midst of the Spanish flu and World War I. But for Pearl, the only concern is to become a star in the Hollywood firmament. Her ambition is the gasoline in this delirious adventure. (Ana Cabral Martins)
