If you loved the uncanny “X” then get ready for Pearl!
X was one of, if not the most acclaimed horror picture of this year and just weeks from now we will be witnessing an origin story for the unholy slasher tale that was setup previously. Pearl will be making its way on the big screen, September 16th. A prequel to the 2022 film, set in 1918 we follow the lead antagonists of the prior film Pearl and her husband Howard. Mia Goth returns once again to play the title character as she had a double role in the prior film, an old bitter farmer named Pearl and a young troubled extroverted pornagraphic actress Maxine.
Director Ti West returns once again to bring us a new story set in this world he’s created. West has had a really interesting career in the industry, he is in fact one of the original directors to come out of the mumblecore genre that originated in to early 2000’s, you can really see that kind of exploitation reverberate into the horror flicks that he’s made over the years (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers). He definitely has affinity for pulp pastiche kind of filmmaking when it comes to the 1970’s era and we’ve seen many filmmakers have that same approach to their work, most famously Quentin Tarantino, except West seems to be affiliated to exploring all of that through the slasher genre. I have always been a fan of his work, but certain times I felt as if his films came off more as just an exercise of tension building or just running on the fumes of the horror genre. Once I heard he was making a new horror film with the most profound studio working today, A24. I was excited yet worried that it might come off a bit skeletal for me as I felt that way being a frequent viewer of his films. For me X is not only his most entertaining film, but is the most bold in regards to the exploration of the concepts he’s planting, being the similarities and differences of nostalgic filmmaking and current filmmaking, the gray areas in fetitization of violence and eroticisim through the cinematic realms as its always been there.
The film is very meta and socially aware of what it's trying to get across (as with most films distributed by A24), but it never feels pretentious. For those who still haven’t seen X it's basically a movie about making movies, as for the premise itself we follow a young group of enterprising adult actors/filmmakers who decide to make a porno in the middle of nowhere Texas on a farm run by a mysterious old couple.
The characters usually would come off as walking panicins in this kind of film, but they never do, you really do care and want to follow them at least I did, they all do a tremendous job at bringing these people to life. They all bring a colorful personality to each of them, the director of the porno at first comes off as cliche because he’s trying to be very artsy and subversive making a porno that has avant-garde elements to it all being to wrapped up in his own ego, but it's when certain morals come into questioning is what makes him a sensitive character. His girlfriend in the film, played by Jenna Ortega (who is becoming a new scream queen for this generation) is a very shy yet puzzling individual, who is quite curious about the industry herself and exploring her own moral boundaries within it. I
n contrast to everything, at the head of this group you have this Kurt Russell kinda knockoff guy played by Martin Henderson, who has charm to him like Russell’s character in the Tarintino film Death Proof, by the way is also a meta exploitation of a movie about making movies through the modern lens. Brittany Snow and Kid Cudi also breathe a lot of life into their roles, but the center of all this is one of the best casting choices to be made for a film in a long time and that is Mia Goth starring in a double role, the lead protagonsit Maxine and the eldery antagonsit Pearl.
Mia Goth has a doe-eyed editorial beauty to her that sinks in perfectly for a setting like this, extremely hypnotic and yet she makes it look and feel effortless in that hypnotism. I’m certain viewers may find themselves perplexed on why Goth was casted as two separate characters in the first place, especially since they are significantly different from each other toneally and literally. For my own interpretation, I feel as if the double casting choice exists because Pearl see’s part of herself in Maxine, both filled with ambition, goals, and dreams. Both have ultra political parents who disapprove of their life choices (judging from the trailer of the upcoming Pearl). Some of the core themes sprinkled throughout X is examining the blurry areas of glamorizing the youth while we discard the eldery in society. The idea of Pearl being jealous of Maxine and her young friends who have their whole life ahead of them is fascinating. It is a bit cliched in a way, like the woman who was once beautiful grows to be more bitter and senile in her old age because without her beauty she feels as if she has nothing anymore, so drastically she looses her mind.
Sounds pretty subpar on paper, why this mostly works in my eyes is because of the way the young crew are confronted with this mortality and naturally they resist it, they don’t even remotely consider it because why should they? As stated before, they are young and they got their whole life ahead of them. It is a sad thing about how we sometimes romanticize youth and reject what is old and I do think West does a pretty decent job of exploring that aspect. At certain points I feel as if it is too clear and maybe could’ve also explored the old and new in terms of aesthetic when it comes to cinema that is bit more subtle, but overall it still manages to feel like a breath of fresh air when there is this much passion given to a project that isn’t made that much in this day an age.
On the surface X may look as if it's just another cash grab throwback attempt to old school splatter films with a very basic plot trying to appease people of the grindhouse experience, but when you have an independent studio like A24 distributing your film you know there is going to be a lot more care given to the film that most studios wouldn’t even think about putting in. I view A24 as a company that takes certain genres/stories that some may see as stereotypical or cliche in someone else’s hands and raises every aspect up, whether it's in the art department, production design, cinematography they just seem to put more effort into all of this while some might not. Because of all this it made for a sufficiently creepy and surprisingly even funny horror picture that balances black-comedy and gory slasher ideally. With West aiming to release the upcoming prequel this month I can only imagine what’s in store for us. There were some things in the end I felt were a bit unresolved in X, but maybe with Pearl some of those questions will be unravled.
For many years I was never a fan of prequels, but this year has been showing me a lot has changed with the narrative. Better Call Saul having one of the best runs and fitting conclusions in the history of television, Prey revitalizing the Predator series while shining light into new ways on where to take the franchise going forward, and House of the Dragon going back to its roots on what made the early seasons of Game of Thrones good in the first place. I have a lot of aspiration for Pearl as West has stated the film will explore not only the origins of Pearl, but showcase many events that took place on the farm in the year 1918 (before the blood bath), such as WW1, The Spanish Flu, and how the cabin on the land was used as a boarding house during the war. What I’m particularly curious about most is seeing the parallels between Pearl and Max, it could be a look into what Max can become if she stays down this path and if West makes a sequel set after the events of X. It really opens up for this one to be more psychological than the previous installment and allows West to explore further concepts in this world he’s creating. Regardless of what he decides to tackle, one thing is for certain we're in for one bloody messed up horror picture.
Make sure to check out our Nerdthusiast Movie Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nerdthusiast-movie-podcast/id1599731947
By Danny Manna @Cinemanna24- Nerdthusiast Content Creator
Posts
Comments
Post a Comment