pearl movie review imdb

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors.

Now streaming on:

Something is not right with Pearl ( Mia Goth ), and she’ll never understand why. She’s too set in her ways, like her need to perform on haystacks while dancing with a pitchfork, or murdering animals when no one is watching. She wants to get out of her isolated farm in 1918 Texas, and experience the love that comes from performing, in being seen as an entertainer but not your truest self. It’s not likely her future star profiles would ever mention that she once impaled a duck with a pitchfork and then fed it to her best friend, an alligator (as we see when her name splashed across the screen in the opening credits).  

Ti West ’s “Pearl” is about how frightening actors can be as they feed that corrosive need to be seen at all costs. So it’s fitting that this movie’s most brilliant moment, its final shot (not a spoiler, as we know she makes it to 1979 in West's “ X ”), is from Goth using her face to disturbing ends. It’s a wide, forced smile; her teeth signal happiness, while her sporadically twitching facial muscles and welling tears say something much scarier, all while frozen in that desperation. West makes us stare at it during the closing credits. It’s all wildly, wonderfully discomforting, and one wishes this character study strove for that effect more often while telling a story that’s not as nuanced as its final, silent call for help.  

But for how obvious the plotting and dialogue can be from co-writers West and Goth in painting a portrait of a monster, it’s fun to interpret Pearl’s proclamations throughout her film as actor/serial killer double-speak: “The whole world is going to know my name,” “I don't like reality,” “All I want is to be loved.” Goth makes these revelations count in primal showcases, expressed with a breathy, heavily accented voice that’s meant to make her sound kind of naive and very much innocent, a carbon copy of the countless Pearls out there. A long-running close-up of Goth later on takes us on a wild ride of her anxieties about not being loved, her fears of her true self, unaware that the sudden turn within her is near, especially after someone makes her feel small. Then they suffer for it.  

Those who remember this year’s “X” will remember the farm where a handful of adult film folk died, and Goth’s elderly version of Pearl, who was often naked and rebuffed and took it all very personally for a course of events a la “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” The few kills in “Pearl” are more calculated, and come as climaxes to scenes of anger, rejection, and her own frustrations. West makes those moments count, creating dread out of a camera’s movement (slowly spinning at one point, waiting for Pearl to pop into frame), while his editing then has its own brutality. Usually taking place in daylight and within Pearl’s psychosis, they’re meant to be played as dark comedy. That very mix of tone doesn’t hit as poignantly as it wants to, but the kills are effectively bracing.  

The house is treated with similar shots as in “X,” but the cinematography by Eliot Rockett presents it in glowing Technicolor, a storybook world of potential—bright green grass, a blood-red farmhouse, blue sky overalls on Pearl as she dreams of getting away. Things are less luminous inside the home, where Pearl’s life of isolation and grave unhappiness is no anomaly: her father ( Matthew Sunderland ) is literally in a wheelchair, sick and wordless, and always needs tending to. And while “Pearl” is a monster movie, Goth’s character has a villain of her own, her mother Ruth, portrayed with haunting disgust this side of “ Mommie Dearest ” by an incredible Tandi Wright .  

Repression is evil’s trick in “X” and now “Pearl”; it makes connection, pleasure, and so much that is fruitful all the more out of reach. It gets people killed. Ruth helps make sense of the horror in this world, in a staggering centerpiece scene that lays it all out on a dinner table: she rips apart Pearl’s hopes of ever leaving, projects comments of failure onto her, and screams about her own immense dissatisfaction with life that she has accepted. Her words are visceral, and they seem to control the thunderstorms that boom from the outside. It's an apt turning point for Pearl, and an excellent display for both Goth and Wright.  

Pearl finds an escape from all of this in the movies—even just the thought of being in one. When her father needs more medicine, she goes to town and gets to actually watch one, inspiring her dreams of being the smiling dancing woman in the frame. She also meets a dashing projectionist ( David Corenswet ), who makes her feel like she could be a movie star, although she later finds out what kind of movies he means, and what he wants from her. Pearl remains as naive as she is needy as she tells him in wistful terms about wanting to be a star. It's here that we simply have to trust Goth and West’s dedication to this character and believe that they're rooting for her in the end.   

West's film takes place in a world that is sick, as the Spanish Flu has reached the states, causing people to wear masks and be isolated. That’s a stronger period element than the movie’s presentation; there’s a nagging effect that in spite of the production design—those cars, dresses, and even a full-out dance sequence—that the movie is so self-amused it’s practically baiting people who go to old movies in theaters to laugh at the niceties and mannerisms of earlier eras. It can be accomplished in other facets, like the gorgeous wall-to-wall score by Tyler Bates and Tim Williams that kicks off with a sumptuous main theme, but the aesthetic gambit of “Pearl” registers more as being cute than immersive.  

There are just too many moments in which the sincerity of “Pearl” is questionable. Yes, it gives Goth a compelling chance to nurture a fascinating character, to show a performer’s heart and needs, for us to clock her emotional reactions like the steps of a slasher. But the execution of “Pearl” is shakier in what it wants us to take from her delusions, her violent outbursts, her yearning for love. “Pearl” gets a little too close to letting you simply laugh at her. We know she wouldn’t like that.

Now playing in theaters. 

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Now playing

Sheila O'Malley

The Listener

Matt zoller seitz.

Riddle of Fire

Robert daniels.

Simon Abrams

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Carol Doda Topless at the Condor

Marya e. gates, film credits.

Pearl (2022)

Rated R for some strong violence, gore, strong sexual content and graphic nudity.

102 minutes

Mia Goth as Pearl

David Corenswet as The Projectionist

Tandi Wright as Mother

Matthew Sunderland as Father

Emma Jenkins-Purro as Mitzy

Alistair Sewell as Howard

Writer (based on characters created by)

Cinematographer.

• Eliot Rockett
• Tyler Bates
• Tim Williams

Latest blog posts

Speed Kills: On the 25th Anniversary of Go

Joanna Arnow Made Her BDSM Comedy for You

The Movies That Underwent Major Changes After Their Festival Premiere

Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives Is A Spinoff Stuck In Limbo

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Pearl review – Mia Goth and Ti West scare up a storm in extraordinary pandemic horror

This brilliant prequel to Goth and West’s previous collaboration, X, is a cine-fever dream set in the dying days of Spanish flu

T he Venice film festival is springing some surprises on us, and one of the biggest and nicest has been the news that Mia Goth is an actual superstar: she is fiendishly good in this outrageous shocker from director Ti West, an origin-myth prequel to his previous film X, shot back-to-back on the same location. Goth starred in that one too, of course, but is now a co-writer on the followup; she takes her performance to the next level: Goth is now the Judy Garland of horror. Her work on the closing credits sequence alone deserves some kind of Golden Lion. The film itself is terrifically accomplished and horribly gripping, with golden-age movie pastiche and dashes of Psycho and The Wizard of Oz. And anyone tempted to look down on the horror genre might want to reflect that it is horror director West who has led the way in commenting on our key issue — his film is about the pandemic and how the lockdown experience incubates dysfunction and fear. The year is 1918, some 60 years before the action of X. Goth plays the eponymous Pearl, a young woman who is working hard on the family farm, longing for the return of her husband Howard who is away fighting in Europe — and she is also dreaming of making it as a dancer in the movies. The war is coming to an end and the Spanish flu is almost over, although Pearl still has to wear a mask when she goes into town on errands.

But Pearl is deeply unhappy, and the lockdown has increased her frustration and her disturbing behaviour. Her German-born first-generation immigrant mother (Tandi Wright) is obsessed with godly hard work and afraid to mix with the locals for fear of anti-German sentiment. She is strict with Pearl to the point of cruelty and her father (Matthew Sutherland) has suffered a stroke and has to be tended to constantly. But Pearl has a fling with the local movie theatre projectionist (David Corenswet) who shows her one of his secret stash of explicit “stag” movies — a queasy premonition of the next film — and the newsreels he shows about the war and the trenches are moreover bizarrely explicit and real. He encourages Pearl to follow her dream, to break into pictures, and to that end attend local auditions for a touring dance troupe. But Pearl, her fingers always curling around the pitchfork handle, is not going to take kindly to rejection in any form. Like the first film, this is virtually a single location picture although there are adroitly managed scenes when Pearl goes shopping, secretly swigging the morphine she buys over the drugstore counter for her had and sneaking into the movies. Without Mia Goth’s grandiose performance, this would be nothing, and she and West contrive a genuinely brilliant scene when her sister-in-law (Emma Jenkins-Purro) thinks it would be cathartic for poor lonely Pearl to say to her what she is longing to say to her absent husband — and she gets a stream-of-consciousness aria of horror. Perhaps I shouldn’t have enjoyed Pearl as much as I did: but it’s clever, limber, gruesome and brutally well acted. A gem.

• Horror films
• Venice film festival 2022
• Venice film festival

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Pearl’ Review: A Farmer’s Daughter Moves Up the Food Chain

A horror-movie killer gets a surprising origin story in Ti West’s prequel to “X.”

• Share full article

By A.O. Scott

If you have seen “X,” Ti West’s ingenious and heartfelt pastiche of ’70s horror and hard-core pornography, you know that Mia Goth plays two roles. (If you haven’t seen it, there are spoilers ahead.) She is Maxine, an aspiring movie star and the designated survivor of a rural killing spree. Disguised by prosthetic makeup, she is also a horny and homicidal farmer’s wife named Pearl, and does a lot of killing.

In “Pearl,” which Goth wrote with West, she repeats that role, playing Pearl as a horny and homicidal farmer’s daughter. That’s not the setup for a dirty joke, and this prequel, set in 1918, is less of a dirty movie than “X” aspired to be. There is some sex and plenty of gore, but mostly an atmosphere of feverish, lurid melodrama leavened with winks of knowing humor and held together by Goth’s utterly earnest and wondrously bizarre performance.

More than 50 years before the events in “X,” Pearl lives on the same Texas farm, with its creaky yellow house, its cavernous barn, and a hungry alligator in the pond. Her life is an endless cycle of toil and frustration. Her husband, Howard, is away at war, leaving her alone with her parents: a pious, dictatorial German mother (Tandi Wright) and a father (Matthew Sunderland) who has been incapacitated by the flu. Money is scarce, and Pearl escapes by sneaking off to the movies while she’s running errands in town.

She dreams of running off to pursue a career in pictures, practicing song-and-dance routines in anticipation of a big break. She also practices what we know from “X” will be one of her later vocations. When a goose wanders into the barn and looks at her funny, she impales it on a pitchfork and feeds it to the alligator. The arc of “Pearl” charts her progress up the food chain, from poultry to human prey.

The bloodshed is at least as grisly as the slaughter in “X,” but “Pearl” occupies a different corner of the slasher-movie universe. It isn’t especially suspenseful — the identity of the killer is never in doubt, and her victims don’t elicit much sympathy — but it has a strange, hallucinatory intensity. The emotions and the colors are gaudy and overwrought, the music (by Tyler Bates and Tim Williams) is frenzied and portentous, but the film is too sincere, too tender toward its peculiar heroine, to count as camp.

It’s also a bit thin and undercooked, but Goth’s performance transcends its limits. She is by turns childlike, seductive and terrifying. Pearl falls into an affair with the local movie-house projectionist (David Corenswet), who introduces her to French pornography and dazzles her with the promise of a Bohemian life free of small-town constraints. She seethes and simpers around her parents, and tries to be friends with her wholesome blonde sister-in-law (Emma Jenkins-Purro). Through it all, Pearl grapples with stifling social and domestic expectations and with her irrepressible hunger for freedom, fame and erotic release.

Goth might remind you at times of Judy Garland in youth, of Shelley Duvall in the ’70s, or of a demonically possessed Raggedy Ann doll, but she has her own fearless and forthright intensity. West wants you to see that Pearl, a monster in the making, is also a heroine for the ages. Goth will make you believe it. Or else.

Pearl Rated R. Stay out of the barn, and the basement. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. In theaters.

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell speak about how “Anyone but You” beat the rom-com odds. Here are their takeaways after the film , debuting on Netflix, went from box office miss to runaway hit.

The vampire ballerina in the new movie “Abigail” has a long pop culture lineage . She and her sisters are obsessed, tormented and likely to cause harm.

In a joint interview, the actors Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough discuss “Under the Bridge,” their new true-crime series  based on a teenager’s brutal killing in British Columbia.

The movie “Civil War” has tapped into a dark set of national angst . In polls and in interviews, a segment of voters say they fear the country’s divides may lead to actual, not just rhetorical, battles.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

• Entertainment /
• Movie Review

Pearl is a slasher prequel that makes the original even better

A killer follow-up to x creates a promising new horror franchise.

By Andrew Webster , an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

When X came out earlier this year, it was a capable, well-crafted homage to ’70s slasher flicks from director Ti West, but there wasn’t much to it beyond that. It turns out the project is much bigger than that one-off story. As was teased at the end of X , we now have a prequel, Pearl , that tells the origin story of its titular bloodthirsty killer. On their own, the two films each offer a satisfying amount of scares and gore. But it’s when you put them together that they become much more intriguing.

This review contains spoilers for both Pearl and X.

X told the story of a group of young folks attempting to film a porn movie in a rented farmhouse before being steadily killed by the murderous elderly couple they were renting from. Pearl explains how that couple got so murderous. Its predecessor pulled liberally from classic horror movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , but Pearl goes in a different direction. It’s much more like The Wizard of Oz. Only, you know, with lots of blood and guts.

Set in 1918, it stars Pearl (Mia Goth), a simple farm girl with dreams of being a star. Problem is, her husband (Alistair Sewell) is away fighting in World War I, her father (Matthew Sunderland) is sick with the Spanish flu, and her strict mother (Tandi Wright) needs Pearl’s help to keep their struggling farm going. Despite a seemingly cheery disposition, Pearl feels trapped. She sneaks out whenever she can to watch movies, dreaming of one day being a dancer on-screen. But it’s not long before the cracks start to show. Early on, she randomly kills a farm animal with a casual kind of blood lust, and later, she has a surprisingly intimate moment with a scarecrow. Something is wrong, and Pearl knows it. She just doesn’t know how to fix it.

Things really start to change when she meets the local projectionist (David Corenswet), a self-proclaimed Bohemian who introduces her to smut movies and the idea of living life for yourself. While her mother dismisses Pearl’s dreams, the projectionist actually supports them, fueling her desires. Soon after, her glamorous sister-in-law Misty (Emma Jenkins-Purro) convinces Pearl to audition for a local dance troupe. What follows is a series of unfortunate events that leads to Pearl ultimately becoming uncoupled from reality and taking her first steps into the wide world of being a slasher movie villain.

Pearl works as a standalone horror movie; the contrast between The Wizard of Oz vibe and the lurking dread builds a wonderful kind of tension and makes the moments of bloodshed hit that much harder. It helps that Goth turns in an incredible performance. She shines, particularly during a long, discomforting speech that sees her accept herself as well as the perfect yet painfully awkward credits sequence. Goth’s ability to swap between Pearl’s true self and the mask she wears in public is wonderful to watch.

But what really makes the movie interesting is how it builds on, and adds layers and texture to, its predecessor. X made it clear that Pearl was full of spite and envy, yearning for her younger days. But now, those motivations are much more clear, to the point that she almost becomes a sympathetic figure. We also see how her husband is roped into the whole endeavor and even get an origin story for the alligator. No matter which order you watch them in, each movie strengthens the other.

This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon, of course. Horror movies are often great at building up a mythology over the course of multiple films, whether it’s Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street . But with Pearl and X , much like with Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy , there’s an intentionality that’s clear from the beginning. The mythology isn’t being created on the fly; it’s there from the start, waiting for you to put the pieces together.

There’s more on the way, too: Pearl will be followed by Maxxxine , a direct sequel to X (I know, the titles are confusing) that sees Goth reprise her other role of Maxine as she attempts to make it in LA. Based on the first teaser , it’s clear Maxxxine will have an ’80s vibe, adding another flavor to West’s growing slasher story — and giving Goth another chance to establish herself as one of horror’s most promising new villains.

Pearl is in theaters on September 16th. This review is based on a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The walls of Apple’s garden are tumbling down

In the first autonomous racing league race, the struggle was real, the apple vision pro’s ebay prices are making me sad, they turned cattle ranches into tropical forest — then climate change hit, the oled ipad pro could launch with an m4 chip.

More from Entertainment

The Nintendo Switch 2 will now reportedly arrive in 2025 instead of 2024

The best Presidents Day deals you can already get

Vudu’s name is changing to ‘Fandango at Home’

Tommy Tallarico’s never-actually-featured-on-MTV-Cribs house is for sale

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Explaining the News to Our Kids

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Common sense media reviewers.

Lots of blood and gore in darkly feminist horror prequel.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Addresses the extremely limited options women had

No positive role models. The main character turns

This is a woman-led story: The three strongest cha

Extreme blood and gore. Imaginary image of soldier

Vintage "stag" film shown for nearly a minute depi

A use of "stupid."

Cigarette smoking. Main character drinks from bott

Parents need to know that Pearl is the horror prequel to Ti West's X (2022). It's set decades earlier, in 1918, and tells the story of how the creepy elderly woman in the first movie became a homicidal maniac (Mia Goth plays the character at both ages). It's extremely bloody and gory but well made…

Positive Messages

Addresses the extremely limited options women had in the early 1900s, and throughout most of human history. Women with dreams may be forced to give them up to live a very narrow, preordained lifestyle not of their choosing. The movie rages against this system in a violent way.

Positive Role Models

No positive role models. The main character turns from victim to monster.

Diverse Representations

This is a woman-led story: The three strongest characters are women and, while not especially admirable, are the ones who drive the story. Very few characters; all are White.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Extreme blood and gore. Imaginary image of soldier exploding, with blood and gore spattering everywhere. Woman's dress catches on fire; she's severely burned. Character killed, stabbed in head with pitchfork; lots of blood. Another hacked up with an axe; lots of blood, body parts shown. Someone is smothered with a pillowcase. Dead bodies. Characters slap one another. Stabbing a goose with a pitchfork; dead, bloody goose shown. Gory war footage in movie theater newsreel. Rotting pig covered in maggots. Jump scares. Nightmare sequence. Characters eaten by alligator. Threatening with knife. Main character smashes an alligator egg. References to WWI and the Spanish flu. Character considers feeding father to alligator. Spoken reference to a dead infant. Spoken references to killing animals. Violent sobbing, utter despair.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Vintage "stag" film shown for nearly a minute depicts a man with two sexual partners; there's full nudity, sex, thrusting, etc. Married main character kisses another man and wakes up in bed with him (sex implied). Main character pretends to "make out" with scarecrow, tongue-kissing; she sits on top of him and brings herself to orgasm. Main character bathes in front of her non-responsive father (nothing graphic shown).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Cigarette smoking. Main character drinks from bottle of morphine (medicine meant for her father).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Pearl is the horror prequel to Ti West 's X (2022). It's set decades earlier, in 1918, and tells the story of how the creepy elderly woman in the first movie became a homicidal maniac ( Mia Goth plays the character at both ages). It's extremely bloody and gory but well made and smart; it's really a dark feminist tale. Characters are brutally killed with axes and pitchforks, and body parts are severed. People are also severely burned, suffocated, eaten by an alligator, even blown up (flinging gory bits everywhere). There are jump scares and nightmares and a rotting pig covered in maggots. Several seconds of a vintage "stag" film are shown, with full nudity, thrusting, and sex. The married main character kisses another man and wakes up in his bed, with sex implied. She also kisses a scarecrow (using her tongue), then writhes on top of him, bringing herself to orgasm. There's cigarette smoking, and the main character takes a swig of morphine. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (6)
• Kids say (21)

Based on 6 parent reviews

Keep this from your kids at all costs. The violence in particular is sadistic and explicit.

What's the story.

In PEARL, it's 1918 -- many decades before the events of X -- and young Pearl ( Mia Goth ) lives on a farm with her strict, stern mother ( Tandi Wright ) and her ailing father (Matthew Sunderland). Pearl is married to soldier Howard (Alistair Sewell) and is waiting for him to return from war. While she waits, Pearl dreams of being a dancer and seeing the world and being adored, but she feels stifled by her mother and her never-ending farm chores. During her rare trips to town, Pearl steals trips to the picture show to watch dance films. She meets the handsome, carefree projectionist ( David Corenswet ), who stirs something inside her. Then she learns from her sister-in-law, Mitzy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), about a dance contest at the local church; the winner gets to go on a tour. Pearl pins her every hope on winning the contest. If she doesn't, who knows what might happen?

Is It Any Good?

This prequel to X promises an origin story, and while it may leave off with more questions than answers, it's still a well-crafted gorefest and a vivid character study. Indeed, Ti West 's Pearl , which was co-written by its star, only suffers when taken together in context with its predecessor. Since the older Pearl appears in the 1979-set X , we know that, no matter what happens in this movie, she'll survive. But as the prequel ends, it doesn't really suggest how the 60 years in between the movies might be filled. Although perhaps that's the point -- it might be a stifling, decades-long blur of nothing. But judged on its own merits, this is a very good movie, hinging on a powerful and sympathetic performance by Goth. West sets up many highly atmospheric shots and striking images, including a vicious rainstorm, a flirtation with a scarecrow, a red dress, a dance number, a gothic dinner table tableau, and a shocker of a tracking shot.

An antique adults-only film and "X" images and references link Pearl to Goth's doppelganger Maxine from the first movie. There are also references to the Spanish flu pandemic of the time and to people having to wear masks. But the real key to Pearl is Goth's modulated performance, which effectively shows the character's wants and needs and the emotional cracks that form like fault lines when things twist or go awry. The movie's tour-de-force is a lengthy monologue -- with Goth emoting in long, unbroken takes -- unloading her innermost thoughts and feelings to Mitzy. The words tumble out like boulders in an avalanche. Her transformation into a psychotic killer is no accident, and it doesn't happen overnight. It's the product of her environment, as well as her gender and the time period. To some, those might have been the "good old days," but to women like Pearl, they were a trap.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Pearl 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

How is sex depicted? What values are imparted?

Is the movie scary or just gory? What's the difference? What's the appeal of horror movies ?

What does the movie have to say about the roles of women in history? What options did a woman have in 1918? How have things changed? How have they remained the same?

How does the movie compare to its predecessor? How do the two movies complement each other?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 15, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : November 29, 2022
• Cast : Mia Goth , Tandi Wright , David Corenswet
• Director : Ti West
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors, Female writers, Latino writers
• Studio : A24
• Genre : Horror
• Run time : 102 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : some strong violence, gore, strong sexual content and graphic nudity
• Last updated : December 25, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Orphan: First Kill

Carrie (2013)

The Invisible Man

Best Horror Movies

Scary movies for kids.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Mia Goth (Pearl) David Corenswet (Projectionist) Tandi Wright (Ruth) Matthew Sunderland (Father) Emma Jenkins-Purro (Mitsy) Alistair Sewell (Howard) Amelia Reid (Margaret) Gabe McDonnell (Woman) Lauren Stewart (Pianist) Todd Rippon (Director)

In 1918, a young woman on the brink of madness pursues stardom in a desperate attempt to escape the drudgery, isolation, and lovelessness of life on her parents' farm.

Ti West’s Pearl is a welcome (and bloody) addition to the X Cinematic Universe

Mia Goth attains Movie Star status in one of the year's best films, horror or otherwise

Advertisement

Recommendations

More about Pearl

After Pearl and X snub, Mia Goth says the Oscars' disinterest in horror is “very political”

Goth’s work in 2022 is another in a long line of snubs and flubs from the Academy Awards. "A change is necessary," …

Mia Goth promises that MaXXXine will be even better than X or Pearl

"It’s the best script of the three by far," Mia Goth said of the upcoming Ti West film MaxXxine

Top Gun: Maverick soars in 4K and Pearl mesmerizes Martin Scorsese: November's best Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases

For those who love physical media (yeah, we know you're out there), here are the new home video releases you need to …

How X and Pearl made slasher movies uncomfortable again

With their revolutionary approach, Ti West and Mia Goth have hacked away the nostalgia and given the genre a …

Movie fan Martin Scorsese thinks Pearl represents “a pure, undiluted love for cinema”

Scorsese might not love the audiovisual entertainment of Marvel, but he’s got nothing but respect for the X …

Ti West is out for blood yet again in conclusion to X and Pearl trilogy: MaXXXine

Mia Goth's character will be famous, even if it's the last thing she does

Ti West's Pearl trailer promises a bloodthirsty origin story

The new horror prequel starring Mia Goth follows the original farmhouse where the "murders of X " occurred

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Pearl (2022)

June 20, 2023 by Robert Kojder

Pearl , 2022.

Directed by Ti West. Starring Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Alistair Sewell, and Emma Jenkins-Purro.

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.

Ti West gave viewers a fairly decent idea in X of how Pearl, the elderly horny murderer serving as the villain in that story, lost her marbles. But given the phenomenal juxtaposing dual performances from Mia Goth hinting at greater cataclysm, it was a surprising but sensible decision to include a stinger teasing a prequel expanding on those origins. It’s equally fitting that Mia Goth also serves as a co-writer on Pearl , together shaping this highly disturbing character study. 

Winding the clock back to 1918, Pearl lives in the same farmhouse seen in X , this time as a young adult with her mother and father. Ruth (Tandi Wright) is deeply cautious of the flu pandemic and rightfully so, only allowing her daughter to head into town for retrieving medicine for her father. When Ruth is not doing that, she is tearing down Pearl for having dreams of becoming a Hollywood dancer and desiring a life anywhere away from the isolation and boredom of tending to farm animals (that are sometimes part of her practice audience, and sometimes finding themselves as her first victims).

Pearl’s ticket away from the farmhouse is her husband Howard (Alistair Sewell), except he hasn’t returned from World War I yet and also hasn’t written a letter in a long time (yes, there’s not much suspense in that considering his presence in X , but it is a logical creative choice).

To say I was unprepared for much of what transpires in Pearl would certainly be accurate, but as a disabled person, I never expected Pearl to be placed into a conflicted scenario in that, even if her mom was supportive of these dreams, it would be difficult for her to chase them anyway considering she is in charge of feeding, cleaning, and bathing her quadriplegic, voiceless father. At one point, Pearl is ordered to take pride in her role as a caregiver and to be satisfied with the mundane, bare essentials life she does have, with Ruth finally exclaiming that she signed up to be a wife and not whatever she currently is to her husband.

These are complicated positions to be in and arguably the X-factor to Pearl’s abundance of empathy, as a character and movie. While in the bathtub, Pearl kicks her leg up in the air, as if she is performing for her father. Shortly after that, she asks a devastating question, inquiring out loud if “there is anything left of you in there?” Would Pearl’s father be more supportive if he could function and speak? Is it eating him alive inside that because of this, his daughter has been locked into a lifetime caregiver role (at least until he dies) and is unable to chase her dreams? Deep down, does he want her to run off anyway and live her life?

It’s a heartbreaking moral dilemma at the center of Pearl that is treated with the required thoughtfulness and sensitivity for an emotional impact, alongside an outstandingly expressive reactionary performance from Matthew Sunderland.

Pearl’s desire to leave only becomes amplified once her sister-in-law Mitzy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), whom she is jealous of for living in the city, informs her of a dancing audition at the nearby church where one wonder will be selected to go on tour. As the relationship with her mother becomes increasingly tumultuous, with Ruth making known her conservative values and opinion that all showbusiness women are harlots, Pearl sneaks out into town to the theater more often.

There, she befriends a handsome projectionist (David Corenswet plays the unnamed character) who provides further fuel to the horniness already inhabited due to sexual repression and her husband gone for years, by showing her underground black-and-white porn. That’s one way Ti West and Mia Goth demonstrate that they have thought of everything to tie these two stories together as brilliant parallels (even the overalls prominently featured make an appearance here with thematic purpose).

This is still a horror movie, and for all the fascinating family drama, it’s also evident that Pearl is an odd duck. With that said, another brilliant stroke comes from factoring in the flu pandemic and how it’s not that different from modern life a few years ago, including the unfortunate toll isolation takes on mental health (especially one that already appears to be rocky). As a result, loneliness reaches its peak involving a scene with a scarecrow that, well, let’s just say is going to satisfy someone’s alarming fetish. Much of this creates a mounting dread in the form of a deeply unsettling slasher flick where every kill serves a purpose tied to characterization. 

Eventually, Pearl is tragically broken down with every ounce of hope inside her shattered, stunningly contextualized within minutes on end monologue from Mia Goth that grounds everything about this pleasantly nasty ride into high art. Considering this is a prequel, the final scene is a bit obvious but still wonderfully mad and allows Mia Goth one final opportunity to flex her incredible acting muscles.

It’s no surprise that Ti West is tapping into some of the same themes found in X , but he has refitted that film’s vibe into a classically Hollywood-stylized tragedy ((with beautifully haunting music from Tyler Bates and Tim Williams). Between X and Pearl , Mia Goth is astonishingly transcendent, eliciting empathy despite the character’s insanity; Pearl is as every bit thematically rich as X , if not more so. Both are the definition of master-class horror.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★  / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Yellowstone: What Will Happen to Kevin Costner’s John Dutton in Season 5 Part 2?

All This Has Happened Before: Remembering Battlestar Galactica

Forgotten Modern Horror Classics That Deserve More Love

The Gruesome Brilliance of 1980s Italian Horror

The Most Disturbing Horror Movies of the 1980s

2000s Horror Movies That Don’t Deserve the Hate

House of the Dragon Season 2: How Long Does Aegon II Targaryen Stay On the Throne in the Books?

The Film Feud of the 90s: Steven Seagal vs Jean-Claude Van Damme

Lock, Stock and The Essential Guy Ritchie Movies

Dust in the Eye: Ten Tear-Jerking Moments in Action Movies

• Comic Books
• Video Games
• Toys & Collectibles
• Articles and Opinions
• About Flickering Myth
• Write for Flickering Myth
• Advertise on Flickering Myth
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

‘Pearl’ Review: Anthony LaPaglia and Larsen Thompson Are Well-Matched in an Uneven but Affecting Drama

Writer-director Bobby Roth peppers his tale of family ties with inside-showbiz allusions.

By Joe Leydon

Film Critic

• ‘The Long Game’ Review: Young Latinos Aim to Earn Respect and Victory on the Golf Course in Uplifting Period Drama 2 weeks ago
• ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett’ Review: Passable Historical Drama Imagines an Early Adventure of the Legendary Frontiersman 2 months ago
• ‘Accidental Texan’ Review: Amiably Old-Fashioned Dramedy Showcases Appealing Performance by Thomas Haden Church 2 months ago

Wildly uneven but sporadically affecting, Bobby Roth ’s “Pearl” is a curiously disjointed drama that relies on the compelling performances of veteran actor Anthony LaPaglia and promising newcomer Larsen Thompson for most of its emotional impact. A few abrupt narrative transitions indicate that some scenes, for whatever reason, must have been discarded during the editing process. But what remains on screen is enough to hold attention and generate rooting interest, especially if you’re amused by inside-baseball allusions to the film and TV industry.

There is an unmistakable air of autobiography to “Pearl,” along with the distinct flavor of a labor of love. Writer-director Roth first attracted notice with two well-received indie films, “The Boss’ Son” (1978) and “Heartbreakers” (a 1984 Sundance Festival prize-winner) before concentrating almost exclusively (and prolifically) on TV movies and series television. Jack Wolf, LaPaglia’s character, is a filmmaker who evidently has made some very bad, maybe unforgivable career moves, but still sells the occasional TV script.

At one point, he lands a gig teaching filmmaking to college students — which Roth has successfully done in real-life — despite the skepticism of a dean (Bruce Davison) who suspects Jack will quit “if a spot opens up on ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’” (Before you ask: Yes, Roth has directed episodes of that show.) In another scene, he hesitates to attend a party — but only until he learns the host (Reed Diamond) is “one of the top agents in TV packaging.” Hey, a man’s got to schmooze where a man’s got to schmooze.

Popular on Variety

A little bit of this wink-wink, nudge-nudge stuff goes a long way, and Roth wisely devotes just enough time to it. The beating heart of “Pearl” is the title character, played by Thompson, and the tragedy that bonds her with Jack. When we first meet Pearl, she comes across as so smart and self-assured that, even though she’s only 15, she really doesn’t sound like she’s bragging while she tells a school counselor that she has her sights set on “Harvard or Yale,” and plans to pursue “a double major of political science and global economics.”

Unfortunately, she also announces, “I want to control my destiny.” And we all know what happens to people who say things like that early in a movie, right?

Sure enough, Pearl soon finds herself orphaned after Helen (Sarah Carter), her beautiful mom, is fatally shot in a jealous rage by her wealthy live-in lover (Nestor Carbonell), who then turns his weapon on himself. Eve (Barbara Williams), Pearl’s alcoholic grandmother, is in no shape to care for her. (Actually, she appears to have wandered in from a ’70s sitcom.) But when Helen’s lawyer (J. August Richards) opens a letter from his deceased client identifying Jack as Pearl’s biological father, the table is set for a story about the reluctant forging of new family ties.

Jack — whose years-ago romance with Helen is effectively dramatized in evocative black-and-white flashbacks — never knew of Pearl’s existence until Helen’s death, and isn’t terribly eager to accept paternal responsibilities. Pearl is even less enthusiastic about accepting Jack as a father — and not just because it means transitioning from private to public school, and living with a stranger whose employment opportunities seem, at best, limited.

On the other hand, Pearl can’t help noticing that, unlike Eve, Jack does not live in a home blanketed with thickets of empty gin and champagne bottles. And Jack grudgingly acknowledges that being responsible for a daughter could be a strong incentive to find a steady job — like, teaching filmmaking to college students. It’s not difficult to predict how this impromptu relationship turns out. But it’s not at all unpleasant to watch the relationship blossom.

Indeed, except for an unplanned pregnancy that plays like something out of “A Summer Place,” the only thing that might really grate on your nerves is the seriously mixed signals given in regard to Helen’s personality. Yes, she’s undoubtedly a loving mom. But Roth none-too-subtly indicates that Helen habitually attached herself to inappropriate men she never intended to marry, then made them jealous — in one case, murderously so — by taking other lovers. It’s possible that one could make a fascinating psychodrama with that as a plot. As a subplot, however, it feels kinda-sorta icky here.

Roth backs his leads with well-cast supporting players, including two — Melissa Macedo as Silvia, Pearl’s street-smart Latinx classmate, and Nighttrain Schickele as Zack, a music-store clerk just old enough to qualify when Pearl seeks a guy with “experience” — who are sorely missed when they disappear from the storyline. And cinephiles likely will appreciate the scene in which Jack tries to interest Pearl in one of his favorite films, Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions.” The guy may have obvious faults, but his good taste in cinema most certainly is a redeeming quality.

Reviewed online, Houston, Aug. 9, 2020. Running time: 93 MIN.

• Production: A Quiver Distribution release of a Jung and Restless presentation of a Jeffrey White production. Producers: Jeffrey White, Bobby Roth. Executive producers: Gary Fleder, Smitty Smith.
• Crew: Director, writer: Bobby Roth. Camera: Chris Burns. Editor: Jean Crupper. Music: Paul Haslinger.
• With: Anthony LaPaglia, Larsen Thompson, Sarah Carter, Barbara Williams, Melissa Macedo, J. August Richards, Nighttrain Schickele, Bruce Davison, Reed Diamond, Nestor Carbonell.
• Music By: Paul Haslinger

More From Our Brands

Taylor swift makes chart history with ‘the tortured poets department’, aston martin’s fastest-ever vantage makes formula 1® debut, mlbpa rips nike amid changes to controversial uniforms, be tough on dirt but gentle on your body with the best soaps for sensitive skin, the conners is losing its wednesdays-at-8 time slot on abc — find out why, verify it's you, please log in.

• Stranger Things Season 5
• Deadpool and Wolverine
• The Batman 2
• Spider-Man 4
• Yellowstone Season 6
• Fallout Season 2
• Entertainment

Pearl review: a star is born (and is very, very bloody)

Pearl is a candy-coated piece of rotten fruit. The film, which is director Ti West’s prequel to this year’s X , trades in the desaturated look and 1970s seediness of its parent film for a lurid, Douglas Sirk-inspired aesthetic that seems, at first, to exist incongruently with its story of intense violence and horror. But much like its titular protagonist, whose youthful beauty and Southern lilt masks the monster within, there’s a poison lurking beneath Pearl ’s vibrant colors and seemingly untarnished Depression-era America setting.

Set around 60 years before X , West’s new prequel does away with the por nstars, abandoned farms, and eerie old folks that made its predecessor’s horror influences clear and replaces them with poor farmers, charming film projectionists, and young women with big dreams. Despite those differences, Pearl still feels like a natural follow-up to X . The latter film, with its use of split screens and well-placed needle drops, offered a surprisingly dark rumination on the horror of old age. Pearl , meanwhile, explores the loss of innocence and, in specific, the often terrifying truths that remain after one’s dreams have been unceremoniously ripped away from them.

At the center of both films is the lonely, impulsive serial killer that Mia Goth has now played at both the start and end of her life. In X , Goth’s dueling performances as Pearl and Maxine shione amid an array of memorable supporting turns from the film’s other stars. Pearl , conversely, puts Goth at the front and center of its story. In doing so, the film offers its star the chance to give one of the best and most vulnerable performances of the year so far.

Pearl begins in 1918, a year when many American men are still fighting the war overseas while those who are stateside have been left to grapple with the horror of the Spanish Flu. It’s a time that is capable of making anyone go a little mad, which is why it’s the worst — or perfect, depending on how you view it — environment for a young Pearl (Goth) to grow up in. When the film begins, Pearl is still living under the same suffocating roof as her domineering mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), who makes her routinely bathe and feed her crippled father (Matthew Sunderland), all while Pearl is left to pray nightly for her husband, Howard (Alistair Sewell), to return home safely from the war.

• Like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire? Then watch these 3 movies right now
• 7 biggest horror movie bombs of all time, ranked by adjusted box office losses
• The School for Good and Evil review: Middling magic

Her poor relationship with her mother, combined with her own crushing loneliness, has made Pearl want nothing more than to get far, far away from her family’s farm. While she’s been able to stave off the suffocating mood of her life by routinely escaping into her own fantasies, a sudden act of cheerful, nonchalant violence in the film’s opening minutes makes it clear that Goth’s future serial killer is already on the brink of total collapse by the time Pearl catches up with her. As a result, the film’s script, which West and Goth co-wrote together, doesn’t take on the same slasher movie structure as X .

Instead, Pearl frequently feels like a kind of twisted coming-of-age story. In fact, like all the great heroes in all the great coming-of-age stories, the journey Pearl goes on throughout the film is one of self-acceptance. Over the course of  Pearl ‘s 102-minute runtime, she’s forced to let her defenses down and learn how to be vulnerable in front of others. The only problem is that the real Pearl, the one she hides beneath a smile that feels alternately mischievous and menacing, has a habit of scaring those around her — and for good reason.

Pearl’s descent into full-blown madness is juxtaposed quite effectively against the film’s bright Technicolor look. The resulting effect is one that makes Pearl seem, at times, like a horror film directed by French filmmaker Jacques Demy. The film’s sets are covered in bright pastel colors (an alleyway drainpipe is noticeably painted pink in one memorable scene) in a way that even calls to mind a film like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg , which still looks as if it had been designed to look as sweet and delectable as possible. That said, the film that Pearl  has the most in common with is not The Young Girls of Rochefort or X , but Blue Velvet .

Like that 1986 David Lynch-directed classic, Pearl is interested in exploring the rot that lies beneath the surface of so many American archetypes. Pearl’s desperate desire to escape her hometown notably,places her in the same emotional space as practically every cinematic high schooler or Disney princess. But unlike so many of cinema’s other wanderlust-driven young protagonists, Pearl does not shine the longer she is left out in the sun. Instead, she sours, and so do her dreams, which start out innocently enough before growing increasingly violent and disturbing. The film, in turn, gradually replaces its pristinely painted red barns, golden scarecrows, and other pieces of familiar Americana iconography with recurring images of rotting hogs and half-burnt corpses.

Eventually, no matter how hard she tries to suppress it, there’s nowhere for Pearl’s growing instability to go other than to the surface. Once it does, Pearl  begins to indulge more in the kind of blood-soaked horror and brutality that X fans may have been expecting all along. However, as impactful as much of the violence is in Pearl ’s final third, it’s Goth’s red-faced, tear-streaked performance that ultimately takes center stage.

After opening with a delightfully macabre prologue, Pearl takes its time getting to the kind of violence and horror its story inherently promises. The film is a slow burn in a way that X very much wasn’t, which makes it far less superficially fun and rewatchable than West’s previous horror effort. Its second act, and especially the pace at which Pearl’s relationship with her mother develops, also drags in certain moments, which occasionally dulls the film’s overwhelming sense of unease.

But every time it seems like Pearl might get lost in the weeds of its own heightened vision of the past, Goth steps up and brings everything back into focus. The actress outdoes her work in X here, delivering a performance as Pearl ’s lead that elicits both pity and fear, often at the same time. Her performance is so central to Pearl , in fact, that the film essentially climaxes with a long monologue that plays out almost entirely in one unbroken close-up of Goth’s mascara-smudged face. The scene might be the best of Goth’s career so far, and it’s followed by an instance of cold-blooded brutality that might be the most technically impressive sequence West has ever pulled off (you’ll know it when you see it).

From there, Pearl achieves a kind of operatic quality that manages to mostly justify the prolonged build-up. Whether or not the film’s climax makes it as effective as that of X will, however, likely vary depending on the tastes of its viewers. X  made a lasting impression because of how it pulled its tropes from the wells of various horror classics only to twist them in ways that were often surprising and darkly funny. Pearl , on the other hand, frequently draws inspiration from movies and stories that are, at most, only tangentially related to the horror genre.

The resulting film is a sun-soaked and vibrant slice of technicolor horror that’s both more technically impressive and subtler than X . The film presents its horrors more nakedly than X does, but it traffics in a sense of unease that is far less visceral than the straightforward, slasher-driven violence of its predecessor. Neither approach is more valid than the other, but it’s a testament to West’s control of his craft that Pearl manages to cast the spell that it does, one that makes it impossible to look away even when the film’s rotten truths are literally staring you in the face.

Pearl hits theaters on Friday, September 16.

Editors' Recommendations

• Abigail’s ending, explained
• Thanksgiving’s ending, explained
• M3GAN’s ending explained
• Slash/Back review: The kids are all right (especially when fighting aliens)
• Rosaline review: Kaitlyn Dever lifts up Hulu’s Romeo and Juliet rom-com riff

Well, that's finally over.

Filmmaker David Gordon Green's revival of the Halloween franchise, which started out strong with 2018's Halloween before stumbling with 2021's Halloween Kills, wraps up with this year's appropriately titled Halloween Ends, a film intended to be the swan song for both his trilogy and original Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis' involvement with the franchise. And while Green's final installment manages to salvage some of the series' appeal, Halloween Ends ultimately falls short of realizing the trilogy's initial potential.

With its lush sets and perpetually probing camera, Decision to Leave looks and moves like any other Park Chan-wook film, but it reverberates with the same untempered passion present in Golden Age noirs like In a Lonely Place and Double Indemnity. Unlike those two films, though, which center their stories around a hot-tempered screenwriter and naïve insurance salesman, respectively, Decision to Leave follows another common noir archetype: the lovelorn detective (played here by Park Hae-il).

In the film’s opening moments, Hae-jun, the detective in question, lands a case involving the mysterious death of a recreational rock climber. The case, in typical noir fashion, leads to Hae-jun crossing paths with Seo-rae (a spellbinding Tang Wei), his victim’s gorgeous but eccentric widow. Perturbed by how disinterested she is in unpacking her abusive husband’s death, Hae-jun begins to tail and spy on Seo-rae, unaware that doing so will only further intensify his attraction to her. As far as noir plots go, this is about as familiar as it gets. With its nods to Hitchcock and lightly self-aware attitude, Decision to Leave makes it clear that it doesn’t mind treading the same narrative terrain as so many of the noir classics that have come before it, either.

At a time when anti-Semitic extremists are storming the U.S Capitol, running for office, and declaring war on Jewish people via social media, it might not be the best time for a movie that expects you to sympathize with Nazis. And yet, that hasn't stopped Operation Seawolf from sailing into theaters and on-demand streaming services this month.

The film, which follows the crew of a German U-boat during the waning days of World War II, casts Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV) as German war hero Capt. Hans Kessler, who's ordered to lead the Nazis' remaining U-boats on a desperate (and likely fatal) mission to attack the U.S. on its own soil. As he and his crew make their way toward New York City in one final bid to turn the tide of war, Kessler finds himself struggling with both the internal politics of the ship and his own sense of duty as the Third Reich crumbles around him.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Challengers Link to Challengers
• I Saw the TV Glow Link to I Saw the TV Glow
• Música Link to Música

New TV Tonight

• The Veil: Season 1
• Hacks: Season 3
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz: Season 1
• A Man in Full: Season 1
• Acapulco: Season 3
• Welcome to Wrexham: Season 3
• John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA: Season 1
• Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: Season 1
• My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman: Season 4.2
• Shardlake: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• Velma: Season 2
• Them: Season 2
• Ripley: Season 1
• Under the Bridge: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1 Link to Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

All Zendaya Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Video Game TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2024

Poll: Most Anticipated Movies of May 2024

• Trending on RT
• Most Anticipated TV of May
• Seen on Screen
• Zendaya Movies
• Play Movie Trivia

Where to Watch

Rent Pearl on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Anthony LaPaglia

Larsen Thompson

Sarah Carter

Barbara Williams

Melissa Macedo

More Like This

Critics reviews.

PEARL HARBOR

• Podcast Episode

Add a plot in your language

User reviews

• April 28, 2024 (United States)
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed