The argument reaches a boiling point when Pearl fights with her mother over the fireplace and mom’s dress ignites, setting her ablaze. Her mother has a violent outburst in response and talks about how she sacrificed everything to take care of Pearl’s father, including her dreams and goals. Seeing this as her opportunity to escape her provincial life, she confronts her mother about auditioning for the dance troupe. Something to note is that the 1939 film’s script has an ending scene where the Scarecrow’s human counterpart, Hunk, leaves for agriculture college and Dorothy promises to write to him, implying a romantic connection.Īfter a visit from Pearl’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Misty ( Emma Jenkins-Purro), she learns of a local troupe that’s holding auditions for their traveling show. A noted dancer while he was alive, the filmmakers gave his character a dance number when he was introduced and Pearl repays the favor by having them share an intimate dance. The scarecrow’s design is obviously very much inspired by the design that was used on actor Ray Bolger in The Wizard of Oz. Ashamed of what she’s done she heads back home with the scarecrow’s hat in tow. Curious, Pearl begins seductively talking to and dancing with the scarecrow, ultimately leading to a scene where she plays out a sexual encounter with it and imagines the face of the projectionist before having a violent outburst informing it that she’s married. From the muted, drab palette of her sepia tone world to a technicolor fantasy only possible in dreams.Īs Pearl heads home she by happenstance is led into a corn field that is home to a scarecrow that oversees the field. This runs parallel to the iconic scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is whisked away to the land of Oz. While here she also meets the projectionist ( David Corenswet) of the theater she frequents (more on him later).
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There’s music playing and people freely living their lives, and Pearl’s troubles melt away with an escape to the movie theater (with a side of micro-dosing).
When she gets to town we’re presented with a whole different world than the one Pearl is accustomed to. Pearl then rides into town on her bicycle to fetch her father medicine. In that film Dorothy lives on a farm with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry and dreams of someplace “over the rainbow “ to escape the mundane life that she leads. Pearl is a mirror image of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz (right down to the pigtail braids). She dreams of a better life but her husband is fighting in World War I and her predicament has her with no place else to go. She helps take care of her invalid father and is chastised constantly by her overbearing mother, Ruth. Pearl pays tribute to this by using a vivid color palette of bright reds, greens and blues, visually evoking the spirit of The Wizard of Oz.įrom here we’re introduced to Pearl ( Mia Goth), a lonely farmgirl who lives a quiet life on her family’s farm. The result was a vivid display of color not commonly seen in this era of filmmaking, though one film in particular became famous for its use of the process: The Wizard of Oz. Technicolor is a process of filming color movies that dates back to 1916 and uses a three-strip system in which a modified camera would capture footage through different color filters (typically red, green, and blue), and be processed separately so that each strip would “print” various colors onto a finished print of the film. Right off the bat, the aesthetic and filmic style choices call back to the era of technicolor filmmaking. The film is littered with parallels calling back to the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, showing how the fairy tale story can be used in a different context to what we’re used to. Ti West brings it to a whole other level with his new film Pearl, the prequel to his slasher movie X that tells the story of the titular character and her descent into complete madness. This has caused numerous filmmakers of all genres and backgrounds to be inspired by the classic story in different ways over the years. The Wizard of Oz is one of the most timeless pieces of American literature ever produced, and the 1939 film adaptation remains one of the greatest (and most frightening) films of all time. The story of little Dorothy Gale and the adventure she has when she’s whisked away to the wonderful land of Oz. We kindly “axe” that you see the movie first and come back to read this after.
Heads up! This piece contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for the movie Pearl.