Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Marvel's Spider-Man Secret Lair promotional image

    Get a Look At the Secret Lair x Marvel’s Spider-Man Superdrop

    09/08/2025
    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions gameplay still

    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions Is All About Adventure (with Friends)

    09/08/2025
    Chord in Persona 5 The Phantom X

    Now Is The Perfect Time To Jump Back In ‘Persona 5: The Phantom X’

    09/05/2025
    Cosmic Spider-Man card details

    [EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

    09/02/2025
    Lee Corso from College Football GameDay in EA Sports games

    EA Sports Always Understood Lee Corso’s Legacy

    09/01/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » REVIEW: ‘Pearl’ Tackles the Narcissism Fueled by a Pandemic

REVIEW: ‘Pearl’ Tackles the Narcissism Fueled by a Pandemic

Kate SánchezBy Kate Sánchez09/13/20224 Mins ReadUpdated:09/13/2022
Pearl - But Why Tho
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Pearl - But Why Tho

I rolled my eyes when I first heard Pearl was happening. I mean, Ti West’s X just came out this year, and it was already getting a prequel? It couldn’t be necessary. But damn, I was wrong. Pearl is directed by West and written by West and Mia Goth. While Goth played our protagonist, final girl in X, in Pearl, she plays the eponymous slasher at the heart of the story. And while I enjoyed the pair’s first outing together, Pearl is even better. The film stars Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, and Emma Jenkins-Purro.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Weird, twisted, sad, and weird some more, Pearl is a vibrant technicolor narcissism-fueled descent into violence. The film is equal parts a pandemic tale and an unhinged nightmare. Set in 1918, Pearl feels trapped on her family’s isolated farm. There, she must tend to her ailing father under her devout mother’s bitter and overbearing watch. While Pearl is obsessed with becoming a dancer and movie star and achieving the glamorous life that comes with it, this ambition puts her at direct odds with her stern immigrant mother.

Pearl wants to be in the pictures, and her mother wants them to survive with a roof over their head, food in their bellies, and healthily away from the pandemic. So repressed and restricted, our lead performs for the animals she cares for when she isn’t feeding her pet alligator the small animals that unfortunately cross her path. But when Pearl meets the projectionist at the theater in town and then has the opportunity to audition for a traveling dance troupe, her longing for the limelight becomes strangled by her antagonistic relationship with her mother, her wifely duties, and the reality that people in her standing don’t become stars.

As a villainous origin story, there are moments when you start to feel bad for Pearl. Her life is stalled because of the influenza pandemic, because she married a military man who left to fight in WWI, and because her mother has painted her into a corner of caregiving and working. That said, the film doesn’t keep this empathetic look at our lead. Oh no, it skewers her narcissism and the selfishness that propels her violence. All of which seem extremely pointed as the audience watches from year three of a pandemic that didn’t end thanks to the selfishness of individuals.

We track Pearl’s descent as she becomes more erratic, and the life she longed for and thought was finally in reach slides out from between her fingertips thanks to her own behavior. Sure, our spree-killing baddie does seem to realize the error of her ways at one point, but West and Goth’s script never lets the audience truly be on her side. The break she suffers is something unfixable, and in the film’s final act, Goth delivers a monologue of loneliness and regret. She’s afraid of herself but angry at everyone and everything she views as having ruined her life. Pearl is gorgeously scary, and Goth’s entire being is thrown into this moment of reflection and admission of guilt. There is a sadness and a fury that she quickly slips in and out of as she feels the weight of years fall off her shoulders.

This film is gorgeous, weird, and mean and has a certain level of chaos that is absolutely worth the watch. Not only that, this prequel works entirely on its own. In fact, watching X immediately after my screening of Pearl was an experience that I can’t wait for others to experience. Without directly referring to each other, Pearl enhances everything that made X special while being a film that is exceptionally different from its predecessor. Pearl is a star, just not for the reasons she wanted to be.

Pearl is in theaters nationwide on September 16, 2022.

Pearl
  • 9.5/10
    Rating - 9.5/10
9.5/10

TL;DR

This film is gorgeous and weird and mean and has a certain level of chaos that is absolutely worth the watch. Not only that, this prequel works completely on its own. In fact, watching X immediately after my screening of Pearl was an experience that I can’t wait for others to experience. Without directly talking to each other, Pearl enhances everything that made X special while also being a film that is extremely different than its predecessor. Pearl is a star, just not for the reasons she wanted to be.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleREVIEW: ‘Saloum’ Is A Genre-Busting, Action-Packed Gem Of A Film
Next Article REVIEW: ‘The Flash: Fastest Man Alive,’ Issue #1
Kate Sánchez
  • Website
  • X (Twitter)
  • Instagram

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles. Find her on Bluesky @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social

Related Posts

The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

09/11/2025
Natasha O’Keeffe in Whitetail
6.5

TIFF 2025: ‘Whitetail’ Is An Intimate View Of A Woman Stuck In Time

09/10/2025
Love Brooklyn
6.0

REVIEW: ‘Love, Brooklyn’ Rests on Pretty

09/10/2025
Park Jeong-min in The Ugly
7.0

TIFF 2025: ‘The Ugly’ Is A Harsh Exercise In Self-Reflection

09/09/2025
No Other Choice
9.0

TIFF 2025: ‘No Other Choice’ Delivers a Bleak Vision of Capitalism

09/09/2025
Molly Lewis in Whistle
8.0

TIFF 2025: ‘Whistle’ Is A Breath Of Fresh Air

09/07/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5
Film

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

By Kate Sánchez09/11/2025Updated:09/11/2025

The Long Walk is a brutal watch. Equally heartfelt and heartbreaking, it’s one of the best adaptations of Stephen King’s work.

EA Sports FC Icons Match promotional image from Nexon News

2025 Icons Match Returns With Football Legends Bridging The Pitch And Video Games

By Kate Sánchez09/03/2025Updated:09/03/2025

NEXON has announced the return of the ‘2025 Icons Match,’ a live event that brings a full roster of legendary players to the pitch.

Black Women Anime — But Why Tho (9) BWT Recommends

10 Black Women in Anime That Made Me Feel Seen

By LaNeysha Campbell11/11/2023Updated:12/03/2024

Black women are some of anime’s most iconic characters, and that has a big impact on Black anime fans. Here are some of our favorites.

DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 11
8.5
Anime

REVIEW: ‘DanDaDan’ Season 2 Episode 11 – “Hey, It’s a Kaiju”

By Allyson Johnson09/11/2025

The ragtag group faces down the mysterious kaiju in the thrilling and beautifully animated DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 11.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here