In the second feature in his "X" trilogy, horror / creeper auteur Ti West teams with franchise star Mia Goth to offer a beautiful and highly stylized prequel to the first film.
In "X," an adult-movie crew in the '70s arrives on a secluded farm for some location shooting and end up being snuffed by the cranky old lady of the house, Pearl.
West takes the story of "X" back to 1918, during the Great War, when Pearl was the twitchy daughter of an austere and mercilessly cruel mother (Tandi Wright) and a vegetative father (Matthew Sunderland). She is also the lonely bride of doughboy Howard (Alistair Sewell), who is overseas.
Pearl aches to be free of farm and wifely burdens and to become a chorine in the moving pictures, which she sneaks off to see when she can. Pearl just needs to be "perfect" and she'll surely be off to see the world.
Of course, none of this is to be, and its Pearl's realization that despite the flattery of a handsome projectionist (David Coresnswet) she is neither pretty nor perfect and that would lead to bloody reckonings being visited on everyone around her.
Pearl's fury is astounding but not because of its brutality, which is cartoon awesome, but because of the banshee wail of disconsolation she emits when doubted. It's truly frightening.
Most impressive to me was Pearl's long monologue toward the end of the film, during which she confesses her sins to her naive and stunned sister-in-law Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro). The scene appears to be a single, uncut take of a remarkable bit of cinematic writing and the perfect bridge to the last reel when Pearl must clean up her mess before Howard comes home.
West's wonderful picture contains homages to Aldrich's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Polanski's Repulsion. Be sure to stay through the cringe-inducing credit roll at the end as Pearl's tortured wide grin seems to morph from corny to silly to unsettling to disturbing to pitiful before the iris closes on her teary face. Splendid!
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