Mia Goth is Oscar-worthy in Pearl @TIFF2022

The movie X from director Ti West made waves after premiering at festivals like SXSW. The premise of X was intriguing where a bunch of young filmmakers in 1979 wanted to shoot an adult film. They scout a farm in Texas but the elderly owners had a different plan for the young group. Mia Goth plays both Maxine, a future porn star and her adversary Pearl the elderly farm owner. This double performance had the industry turning heads. But we did not realize that Ti West and Mia Goth had something else in mind for X fans.

Months later news about the prequel to X started to surface in the film circuit. The film Pearl was then selected by Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky for TIFF 2022. This had cinephiles and fans paying attention to the prequel and its premise. Why such a sudden release for a prequel in less than a year? Director Ti West was working with the film’s momentum. He also knew he had a star in Mia Goth.

A Young and Ambitious Pearl

Pearl is set back in 1918 and follows a younger Pearl. The film is a character study of how she became the disturbed individual in X. The younger Pearl had much ambition and moxie to become the movie star dancer that she wanted to be. Too many obstacles are in her way of achieving her dreams. Her parents, the farm that she works on and her husband who has gone away to war are these perils. Her relationship with her mother, played by Tandi Wright, is brutal as she shuts down Pearl’s dreams of doing anything. According to her mother, taking care of her sick father and the farm should only be her priority.

The more she realizes that her dreams can not be attained, the more frustrated she becomes. She loses her grip on reality and goes on psychotic and violent rampages. But this contrasts well with the technicolour atmosphere paying homage to Wizard of Oz. And it’s an interesting score by Tyler Bates. Director Ti West balances it all out as her explosive rages are beautiful forms of her dark side.

9 Minute-Monologue

There is one scene where she is doing a 9-minute monologue that had the Twitterverse loving her performance. She is pretending that she is talking to her husband Howard. Rather she is making confessions to her cousin Mitsy, played by Emma Jenkins-Purro. This part of her performance has been tweeted and posted all over social media. Many feel, even Variety magazine, that she should be deserving an Oscar nod. Although the Academy does not look at genre or horror films. It’s likely that Mia Goth will be snubbed. Many tweets were regarding her creepy smile during the end credits. That alone should be well deserving of that Oscar honour.

Mia Goth’s Show-Stopping 9-Minute ‘Pearl’ Monologue Deserves Oscar Attention https://t.co/k3751laiTa

— Variety (@Variety) September 21, 2022

the fact that the end credits scene in #PearlMovie with mia goth holding her deranged smile for minutes on end wasn’t in the script just proves that some of the best and most memorable things in film are unplanned pic.twitter.com/adhZrM00bc

— bethany (@fiImgal) September 19, 2022

Mia Goth carries Pearl to a level where fans easily fall in love with her as an anti-hero. But you have to give credit to Ti West for not wasting any time releasing the prequel right when film festival season was starting. Let alone a chance for Oscar consideration for Mia Goth. Could this be a turning point for the Academy when considering horror films as legitimate acting pieces? Only time will tell but Ti West is certainly making a case for Mia Goth.

FERNTV was able to speak with director Ti West during the red carpet premiere of Pearl during the TIFF 2022.

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