I don't think you meant to say that out loud, Pearl

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2023

#18 :  Pearl

Ti West’s X arrived last year as a slasher with much on its mind — chewing on notions of old age, sexual repression, and bodily autonomy delivered in a straight-up ‘70s murder-spree. 1918-set prequel Pearl is even better, West and Mia Goth teaming up to dig into the psychological morass of X’s homicidal octogenarian in her younger years. The result is a film presented in an early Technicolor visual palette, with over-cranked colours and throwbacky sound cues — not just a stylish gimmick, but a reflection of the movie-life that Pearl herself wishes she was living. As her obsession with becoming famous (and getting her rocks off — notably, at one point, with a scarecrow) reveals a dark undercurrent in her psyche, the reality of her mundane life closes in — leading to a load of blood-letting. It’s beautifully crafted, with fascinating characters and an astonishing performance from Goth, whose expression during the closing credits will go down in cinematic history. Pearl herself says it best: she’s a starrr.

The third film in a row that doesn't appear on The Guardian's list - this feels somewhat less Guardianesque than the previous two. I've heard it's good but it doesn't feel like it's gonna be my cup of tea, but let's see, shall we?

Well - if you went in to watch this without knowing what you were getting, you'd be very confused very quickly. We start off with farm scenes in glorious Techicolor with a swooning orchestral soundtrack as Pearl tends to the animals - it's all pretty reminiscent of The Wizard Of Oz. And then she stabs a goose with a pitchfork and feeds it to an alligator. Ooohhhh kayyy...

And that isn't even close to the maddest thing that happens in the film. It's made clear that Pearl is living a fantasy life to distract herself from her mundane and stifling reality so you're never entirely sure how much you can believe and the film's style does nothing to help you using bright colours and luscious backing tracks throughout. Whatever's going on, it's fair to say it's all utterly batshit crazy - and a mix of pretty gory and surprisingly coy on the violence front.

I really don't understand who would want to watch this film for the plot - for me there are only two reasons to watch this. Firstly, you might want to admire the film-making, which is undoubtedly impressive - Ti has picked the retro, Technicolor style and he fully runs with it, whilst mixing in (slightly gorier) Hammer House of Horror shocks. Horror isn't really my thing (particularly when it's not really all that scary) but I do admire the style.

The other reason to watch this is Mia Goth's central performance because the girl is good! Yes, the film is batshit crazy but that just means it needs a full-on batshit crazy central performance and boy does she deliver. She can switch her mood on a sixpence and do the craziest things with her face - it's a proper 70s Hammer performance and her expression over the end credits really does have to be seen to be believed. No-one else has loads to do in the film, but Emma Jenkins-Purro at Mitsy gets a name-check for the two-header scene with Mia towards the end of the film which was far and away the bit I enjoyed most in the film.

I didn't hate this film and there are certainly components to admire about it - but mere admiration does not a great film denote. It's just too mad for me and not entertaining enough - I don't really see why it was made or who would want to watch it. So I consider it a rare mis-step on Empire's part, but if you want to watch it then it's available to stream on Sky or to rent in all the usual places.

#19 - A great film that I couldn't handle watching
#17 - A fine film indeed