X (2022) and Pearl (2022)

Two films in the same year from director/writer Ti West (and for the second, star of both, Mia Goth pen in hand). Two films which are actually very different and leap back in time to, for X, 1979 and then for Pearl (who is the old woman in X), 1918. Pearl is played in both films by a heavily made-up Goth (in X) between her scenes as twenty-something porn-star Maxine, and as-is for Pearl the teenager in Pearl! Keeping up?!

Back to 1979 then and a group of young filmmakers rent a pretty run-down building from an elderly couple (Pearl and her husband) who also live on the same Texas site, in a bigger house, across the way. The team are making porno-flicks and after convincing the elderly couple that they are about something different, they get on with shooting their films.

Pearl and her husband stumble into the truth about what they are filming, however, and this is the point at which things turn sinister and the film becomes an all-but teen-slasher flick, which in time-honoured fashion, leads the viewer through much gore, violence and nastiness as they get bumped off one by one in various different ways! And this is what makes the film stylish, fun and engaging really. The sex they are filming becomes a bit of a side-issue as the audience is encouraged to focus more on the dark deeds!

Pretty much all of the film is based in and around the isolated house and farmyard, where all the deeds take place. The actors (and director) are clearly have lots of fun with this, but we also get some insight into each of the characters, their leanings, prejudices, liberation - and how far they can pushed before they become very different people, often defying their traits! Jenna Ortega is a good example of this as the ‘sound’ person in amongst all this for the flicks, apparently prudish and reserved, until pushed and challenged.

There’s lots of good tension at certain times during the film as the audience is kept on their toes, wondering what on earth is coming around the next corner. The actors do well in depicting themselves as friendly, likeable characters, with a seedy task at hand, but we’re encouraged to warm to them from the start, whatever we think about what they’re doing there! It’s all shot very nicely, creating an almost retro slasher-flick feel to it (indeed from the 70’s) and is glorious fun throughout.

And then we come to Pearl, which is very different, and, as I say, depicts the young life in 1918 of the old woman in X. Pearl lives on (I think) the same farm with her mum, who goes out of her way to oppress and stamp on her ambitions, and disabled dad. She is married but her husband is away fighting in WWI, so she’s left to help run the farm and look after dad. Pearl moons about the place dreaming of becoming a performer on stage, without, realistically, much hope.

Played by Goth, she is depicted throughout this film as a complete fruit-loop, presumably paving the way for the nasty old sinister woman in X later on, but also a sadly troubled soul who really doesn’t have much grasp on reality and lives in a dreamworld. The whole film is centred around her and forms something of a character study, crossing the ‘t’s and dotting the ‘i’s for what’s to come later.

In many ways, it’s a bit of a slow-burner compared to X but that doesn’t mean to say that it’s bereft of the early inklings of Pearl’s violent leanings as we are served up some nasty deeds (between her cutesy talking to farm animals behaviour), just not in quite the same slasher-flick way as X.

Back to the plot and Pearl bumps into a chap who is working as a director who sees his opportunity for a bit of a wriggle in the sack in exchange for providing her with some door-opening opportunities to mould her dream in entertainment. She gets an audition to perform on the stage which he leads her to believe she’s going to do well with, but she flunks it, is destroyed by the outcome - especially when the chappie, having had his way with her, unceremoniously dumps her. This is the point at which Pearl is pushed over the edge and starts to develop behaviours more consistent with her part in X.

The cinematography is great, again, but this is certainly of a different ilk and during the first half of the film seems more like some kind of Wizard of Oz tale, very slow, as Pearl’s character’s background is built for us. Thrills await in the second half as it shifts up a gear! It’s certainly worth watching to enjoy Mia Goth’s performance (in both films) but also for much more besides. Part of me wishes I’d watched them the other way around, but they stand alone too. Great fun and very enjoyable. Recommended.