Shadows on the Wall

Pearl

dir Ti West
scr Ti West, Mia Goth
prd Jacob Jaffke, Ti West, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss
with Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Alistair Sewell
release US 16.Sep.22
22/US A24 1h42

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Outrageously heightened, this bonkers horror comedy is a prequel to filmmaker Ti West's X, cowritten with star Mia Goth. While harking back to The Wizard of Oz and Psycho, everything's drenched in Technicolor hues. There's emotional resonance in the story of a young woman who feels trapped by her life, even if the grisly nuttiness undercuts this. What remains is an entertainingly nasty tale about the birth of a killer.

On a farm in 1918 Texas, Pearl (Goth) has a colourful life tending to animals and her paralysed father (Sunderland). But she misses her husband (Sewell), who's fighting in the war, and she struggles against the strict rules her mother (Wright) places on her. Secretly longing to be a dancer like the girls in movies, she sneaks off to the local cinema, where she meets the dashing projectionist (Corenswet). He encourages her to audition for a dance show with her sister-in-law Mitsy (Jenkins-Purro). Back home, she contemplates feeding her father to her pet crocodile Thedo.

Thedo is introduced early on, providing a running joke that cleans up Pearl's ghastly messes. She knows something is seriously wrong with her, but just wants to be loved. Everything is augmented by Eliot Rockett's sweeping camerawork and a riotous pastiche score that swells with Pearl's emotions. The settings (it was shot in New Zealand) are all brightly candy-coloured, evoking old Hollywood rather than the period itself. And the presence of the Spanish flu adds a witty pandemic touch.

Goth goes all-in on the character, with loose physicality and a swaying Southern drawl. Pearl is incapable of hiding her feelings; her passion and pain are unusually vivid. Watching her toothy smile shift ever-so-slightly into menace is downright terrifying, mirrored in her costars' eyes. Corenswet is almost ridiculously hot as a seemingly nice guy who charms her before showing smutty movies he found in France. Jenkins-Purro is hilarious, and then bracingly sympathetic, as the chattering Mitsy. And Wright gives Pearl's mother just the right mix of maternal concern and imperious cruelty.

West weaves so many clever touches into the film that it will reward alert viewers with a continual stream of surprises. Not only does it look visually sumptuous, but the tone and pace draw us deep into the story that's rumbling underneath the cartoonish surfaces. It's not terribly deep thematically; Pearl is a psychopath, not just misunderstood and wounded. But as a scary movie, it's rare proof that you don't need to make everything dark and gloomy to elicit a sinister chill or a well-orchestrated jolt.

themes, violence, sexuality 10.Sep.22 vff

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