“Pearl” – Movie Review by Rafy Mediavilla (@Rmediavilla). #TIFF22
In this astonishing follow-up to the year’s most acclaimed horror film. Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl finds her ambitions, temptations, and repressions all colliding in this stunning, technicolor-inspired origin story of X’s iconic villain.
I must admit that one of the underlying factors that pushed me to apply to cover the Toronto International Film Festival 2022 was the sheer fact that Pearl what’s going to be presented While I was pretty sure there was going to be presented eventually in the island, I wanted to be well the first one you get a glimpse of this project.
It is no secret that when X came out the whole horror genre fandom exploded and many of us, we already knew of the existent approach to the movie which means that many of us came out of the theater from watching X wanting to see Pearl that exact same minute. furthermore, when I spoke to writer-director Ti West during the red carpet premiere of Pearl at the Toronto International Film Festival 2022, I got the opportunity to ask Ti West how excited was he when he find out people were so looking forward to Pearl the moment X came out, which he answered that he absolutely knew he had something special when he got the chance to film both X and Pearl side-by-side.
With Pearl being the most anticipated movie, I was looking forward to seeing during my coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival 2022, I make my way to the Cinesphere Theatre sit down and enjoy the ride. Once I come out of the theater you can clearly see the smile on my face as I saw another huge banger of a movie and with the teaser just premiered of what’s coming next, I just couldn’t wait for more.
Pearl is the perfect audience sorry for the main antagonist of X, while it’s lighter in tone regarding the blood and gore elements that defined it X, where the story truly chimes this is how much backstory we get of what turned Pearl into the woman she was. another thing that I absolutely loved about the story he said behind all the madness the blood and the gore Pearl touches on subjects that are relatable to girls or women that get pushed around by their families and their religions. Pearl also touches on the subject of wanting to explore yourself and your sexuality, and how all of it can be seen as a sin because of religion. The social commentary behind the character it’s just something that blew my mind, and I find it scary, way to relatable these times.
Mia Goth was superb in her performance. She embodies the role of Pearl, she flat-out transforms into her character. We saw every single bit of emotion from every situation Pearl was put through. We saw the anger, the frustration, the rage, and the motives for her actions. And even though we may not agree with them the only light factors that push her into who she clearly become. This is a masterclass in character development.
If you asked me which one is better between X and Pearl, I would have to say that both of them complement each other perfectly. you need to see us in order to understand the motive and the reasoning behind Pearl being who she is. And even though without Pearl, X works great as a standalone horror movie now that we know the back story of Pearl it just level ups the impact of the character within the X story arc. Ultimately, if you watch X and you love it then you must watch Pearl and prepare yourself for more.
