X/Pearl/MaXXXine (Ti West, 2022-2024)

[Kracker]

Is now a trilogy with a third film “MaXXXine” announced

[DarkImbecile]

Pearl is a quite an odd, bifurcated experience:

For the first two-thirds of Ti West's prequel to X, I was mildly engaged by the way West gives this WWI-era farmhouse horror comedy (that tired old subgenre) the look of a technicolor cartoon, but more than a little disappointed that it didn't seem to have much in the way of thematic ambition, narrative surprises (given that we know the outlines of this story from X), or even just the kind of gonzo splatter-house insanity the trailer seemed to promise. The film re-introduces Mia Goth's Pearl as a young woman who feels trapped on her parent's farm caring for an invalid father under the cold, critical eye of her mother (portrayed with icy resolve by a very good Tandi Wright); she spends much of her time escaping into fantasies where she receives the adoration, stardom, and luxury she believes she deserves. In addition to dancing for farm animals and feeding the nearby lake's alligator, one of her outlets is the nearby town's theater, where she begins to connect with the projectionist. Goth is fine throughout, but again, I couldn't help feeling like she wasn't being given anywhere near the same kind of opportunity to show off her charisma and talent that West offered her in X.

Even after her poorly-concealed insanity begins to violently bubble to the surface, the film's tone treats this entire exercise like a feature-length easter egg for X... until

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Pearl has the opportunity to audition for a small-time traveling dance troupe. Very suddenly, most of the winkingly arch elements drop away, and Pearl takes a sharp left turn deep into the warped psychology of this character, evoking many of the more disturbing elements of Repulsion, Psycho, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and — most importantly — giving Goth multiple opportunities to take over the screen. Her reaction to rejection at the audition, a long monologue, and the disquieting final shot all showcase her brilliantly, and combine with her co-screenwriting and producing credits to make this the most impressive work I've seen from her thus far.

Pearl isn't as consistently fun and well-executed throughout as its precursor was, but in unexpected fashion the last half-hour is among West's strongest, most unsettling work, and distinctive enough from what worked in X that it justifies what at first seemed like a campy lark of a prequel — and also notably steps up my excitement for the third entry in this series (there's a brief post-credits teaser for MaXXXine attached to this film).

Finally, I'll note that West really needs to be given the opportunity to make a full-fledged musical — there are a couple of brief moments here built around song and/or dance that are just as notable as the Brittany Snow scene I liked so much in X.

[therewillbeblus]

My thoughts on Pearl resemble DarkImbecile's pretty closely, though I was more consistently engaged with the layers of Goth's performance throughout. Even when the film dragged, her eccentricities sold some antisocial gags that would fall flat in another actress' hands (i.e. the objective presentation of her acting out fantasies in real time, culminating in straddling a scarecrow), and even during the more banal chores of her daily routine, she gives a tremendously physical performance in how she carries her body around like an uncomfortable weight. It's not exactly a (visually or thematically) subtle undertaking, but the physicality of those calculated movements is far more impressive than it appears to be- a truly lived-in role, just as much as behind all the elderly makeup in X.

Otherwise, yeah, it's not a particularly exciting film. I loved some of the small formalist-deadpan gags that Ti West likes to implement into his films, especially the perverted Free Willy reference at the dock freeze-framed for the opening title card. But the slow-burn isn't venturing in the direction of conventional horror, despite the action playing by the beats of a classic 70s horror movie as the narrative works toward something else. This all comes to make sense, and fits squarely within the aching impotence from the Pearl we see and empathize with in X's more tender moments. In the long windup, we witness an alienating oscillation between blunt psychopathic behavior and repressed yearning for self-actualization, but only in that last act does the film reveal itself as a character study of cavernous tragic depths.

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The extended monologue (which is... outstanding) is a raw, honest disgorging of resentment and sadness around all the inequalities of a branded have-not lifestyle, pains of social immobility, and most importantly, Goth's mental state of being just aware enough of her mental illness but without the power to overcome the gravitational pull of her genetic makeup's violent impulses. She truly does scare herself, and the split-personality segments merge as West and Goth demonstrate a spectrum of sociopathy where one can have surging emotional needs within the confines of psychopathic numbness to others’ worth, uninhibited aggression, and projected torment as a symptom of one’s own suppressed position and negative core beliefs. This speech hit me like a ton of bricks, and I'm not sure I can relate to someone who sits through her confession and doesn't recall personal memories of their own most fragile feelings of social inadequacy infecting self-worth, and the helplessness to ascend such a fatal state of being.

Sign me up for the third installment just to see Goth continue to showcase her diverse talents with the support of a generous filmmaker like West, who seems perfectly happy to lean back and let her take the wheel.

[therewillbeblus]

MaXXXine adds slew of players to its cast, including Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, Bobby Cannavale, Lily Collins, and Giancarlo Esposito

[Monterey Jack]

Ridiculously stacked cast. I hope Ti West sticks the landing, because if he does, this will turn out to be the best horror trilogy since the Raimi Evil Dead films.

[tenia]

I've never particularly been a fan of the Evil Dead trilogy, so that probably explains what I haven't liked X and only very slightly prefered Pearl (and have thus 0 particular anticipation for Maxxxine).

[The Curious Sofa]

Apart from them being horror films and a trilogy, I don't see much overlap between the Evil Dead movies and this in terms of style, subject matter and tone. I don't get how it follows that not liking Evil Dead would mean also not liking the Ti West movies.

[tenia]

I would argue that if both are the best something, they share a certain craft, at least from a moviemaking perspective. They also both share a rather comedic blend with horror, so I would understand then bundling them together and realise that movies displaying this kind of qualities might just, well, not be my cup of tea.

But I don't think there is much more reading to do into my follow up post.

[Monterey Jack]

I'm just saying in terms of QUALITY, Not that there's any overlap in style or tone between the Evil Dead and X/Pearl movies. There are very few horror series that deliberately cap themselves with three movies (The Omen is the only other horror "trilogy" I can think of).

[Mr Sausage]

Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy is another, but the last entry is as bad as the first is good…

[Mr Sausage]

Random things I liked about X:

-The fetal crying in the shower trope filmmakers love to do with women? It's done by a guy here, while the woman sleeps like a baby. I chuckled. It strikes me that the director and his girlfriend are in constant role reversal. What we expect Ortega's character to be, he turns out to be.

-Artists often like to include artist characters in their work to express or embody their ideas on what it means to be an artist, etc. Ti West has his filmmaker character be the doofus. He's not especially good at his job (Brittany Snow's character has to point out more creative framings); he's deluded about what he's actually doing on that film set precisely because he's prudish and judgemental; he's suggestible and easily led around by stronger personalities; his first instinct when unhappy is to just run away and strand everyone else, tho' they've been nothing but nice; he's the first death, in kinda unmanly circumstances (murdered by an old woman while standing there offering no resistance).

-The old couple are, among other things, conservative types: disgusted by the open flaunting of things they not only want themselves, but do even more fucked up versions of behind closed doors. The old woman calling the other women whores when she's clearly fucked some guy to death in a dungeon in her basement is pure 'anti-homosexual preacher/politician caught in child abuse ring' hypocrisy.

-Ortega's character is the only one of the filmmakers who has sex purely because it turns her on. The rest do it for non-sexual reasons, from money, to fame, to professionalism. The old couple fuck for pure reasons of lust, tho'.

-The early scene with the alligator was one of the best, and yet most quiet and placid, suspense sequences I've ever seen. I'm disappointed none of the rest of the horror moments matched it.

[brundlefly]

MaXXXine trailer

[therewillbeblus]

MaXXXine trailer

Looks like a more complex Mute Witness in some respects