Why So Blu?

Pearl – Wal-mart Exclusive Art Edition (Blu-ray Review)

One of the year’s biggest surprises, and that surprise being is mere existence, Pearl will be arriving on Blu-ray on November 15th. The film, a prequel to Ti West’s first film this year, announced itself at as the credits ended to X. With continued great reviews for this series going 2 films strong now, Pearl proved an even more unique experience and showcased more of the strong West/Mia Goth combo. The film comes with a couple featurettes and will be available in 2 different editions. That difference merely being the cover art and that’s it. This review will be for the Wal-mart Exclusive Art Edition which differs from the standard and can only be purchased from the behemoth retailer. The standard edition of Pearl can be pre-ordered using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows this review.

Film

Filmmaker Ti West returns with another chapter from the twisted world of X in this astonishing follow-up to the year’s most acclaimed horror film. Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl’s ambitions, temptations, and repressions all collide in the stunning, Technicolor-inspired origin story of X’s iconic villain.

Pearl is a devious, delicious little film that stick in your head rent free for quite a while after you finish viewing. Its wild how this movie came about merely as preparation for Mia Goth playing the older version of the character in X. While that film was quite an experience in and of itself, Pearl is a different mold entirely. And one that feels wholly unique, potentially capturing a bit of a lightning in a bottle Psycho-esque magic in a tale which pays tribute to a certain feel of films from a specific time while paving such a fascinating character story.

More impressively, the film is a tour de force showcase for Mia Goth who also co-wrote the film with West. Quite possibly taking this film to the highest tiers and making it nudge past X on many radars is her unique performance. Its the kind of thing where you’ll only ever be able to see Goth in the role and never could have ever imagined anyone else could have come close to this. There’s a great tragedy at the heart of Pearl and Goth wears it and delivers it mind, body and soul. Goth provides some physically chilling and absolutely unbelievable moments all throughout the film. There’s a dynamite monologue in the third act as well as here “still frame” that goes for the entirety of the film’s closing credits that’s an absolute marvel. It takes a special kind of performer to be able to do what she does here, and she’ll be on my radar whatever she’s in from here out if she wasn’t already.

Capturing it all is Ti  West. While a lot of the same locations are used for this as was X, they look and hit differently here. Yes, they’ve been given a polish, but he’s got a different trajectory this time around. While it wasn’t necessarily going back to a well, X was something we imagined and knew West could do with excellence after House of the Devil. But here, with something that is harkening back to a much grander type of film, with next to no money to make it and pulling it off is something even more impressive. From his team of set decorators and costume design, to nailing the lighting and overall aesthetic, Pearl is just a treat to sink into visually. There’s a patience on display here and a devious playfulness mixed with a macabre sensibility as some of the most beautifully captured moments are during the most horrific of times.

While I’m hoping MaXXXine delivers big, after the fun that was X and the profoundly great Pearl, its earned the right to merely be a victory lap. Pearl is a fantastic character study and origin story that proves some worth where most villain origins fail. Mia Goth is a quite incredible here and gives an all-timer performance for the horror record books that’ll hopefully be brought up time and time again. Ti West again re-affirms he is one of the best in low budget affairs, dealing out some of his best work here. Pearl is a unique piece of must see horror art and only gets better with a revisit.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Pearl comes to standard Blu-ray (I’m hoping A24 is holding out here for a trilogy set on 4K once MaXXXine comes out) and really is about the finest you could ask for on the format. It really lavishes in the attempt at recreating a technicolor look and letting it pop nicely off the screen with great details that help hold up the aesthetic. Its a crisp picture with nice colors and some good depth that really leave not much room for complaint aside from the desired format jump.

Depth:  Depth of field is pretty strong here and the cinematography gives off plenty of pushback and a nice sense of grand scale. The farm scenes especially show off a big area, as does the barn. Movement is smooth and natural with no issues of any motion distortion be it blur or jitter.

Black Levels: Black levels are very deep and only at times have a hint of gray to them. Its well saturated and you can still make out the finer details of hair follicles, textures and patterns on darker areas that show through.

Color Reproduction: Colors are very strong and pop quite well. From Pearl’s dress, to the some of the other fabrics, Goth’s pink lipstick and much more, it radiates around the scene for a pretty image.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish. Facial features and textures are plenty clear as day, even through make up and the like.

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics: Pearl has a very terrific 5.1 track that is a plenty loud and nuanced. Sure its not Atmos, but the mix makes it work and it is quite engaging. There are touches in it of evoking the era as well as giving you the dynamics and strength of a modern audio track. Its layered with good depth and balance to really fill out the room with such a nice feel to it.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: The film doesn’t have a lot of punchy scenes but when it does with a whack or an engine or some of the deeper strings and horns in the score, its felt in a very natural humming way.

Surround Sound Presentation:  There’s a lot up front in the mix, but don’t let it fool you into being “front heavy” as the rear channels craft some unique sounds as well as track the offscreen activity and angle switches very well. Sound travel is accurate and has some nice force to it.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

Pearl comes with the DVD edition and a redeemable digital code. This particular edition comes with artwork on its insert and slipcover exclusive to Wal-mart stores (the pre-order link below is for the regular edition with the standard artwork).

Coming Out Of Her Shell: The Creation Of Pearl (HD, 11:38) – This one has Ti West and Mia Goth discussing how the film came about from preparation for X and how it it informed both movies in high degrees. David Corenswet talks about what made him interested in and wanting to do the film and praises Goth for being open to trying stuff on the spot. They reveal that they wanted to do the film in black and white, but that “no” transformed into a gorgeous technicolor tribute they were even more happy with.

Time After Time (HD, 4:01) – Ti West discusses there only being about 3.5 weeks between shoots and how it was really weird to go backward in time. This featurette is a montage of footage with a West voice over playing with it.

Teaser Trailer (HD, 1:02)

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:13)

Summary

Pearl is quite a unique film and flourish of filmmaking prowess showcase for West and acting powerhouse for Goth. The Blu-ray of the film looks and sounds as best you can ask for on the standard 1080p format. There’s a couple of nice featurettes to go with the teaser trailer that people were wanting on the X Blu-ray and the the theatrical as well. Pearl is a film that gets into your head and keeps you thinking long after its finish, so you may want to pick it up at some point.

This is a paid Amazon Associates link