Review: MaXXXine

 by A.J.

MaXXXine

Writer-director Ti West’s X, set in 1979 and starring Mia Goth, was an adequate slasher genre exercise. The prequel, Pearl, set in 1918 and starring Mia Goth, was an excellent character study, and, in a very welcome surprise, one of the best horror movies of recent years. Now MaXXXine, set in 1985 and starring Mia Goth, is an 80’s horror pastiche, driven more by aesthetic and style than character or even genre. There are touches of 80’s horror, slashers, thrillers, and sleazy low budget movies in general. Everything coalesces fairly well though the ending becomes unwieldy and disappointingly anticlimactic despite an 80’s inspired poolside shootout. If an exploding head is a letdown, then you have made some mistakes with your movie.

Mia Goth stars as Maxine Minx, sole survivor of the “Texas Porn Star Massacre” depicted in X, who is now an adult film star living in L.A. and trying to break into mainstream movies. Her big chance comes when she is cast in the low budget but highly anticipated horror sequel, The Puritan II. Then she begins receiving cryptic notes about her past, her co-workers begin turning up dead after saying they are going to a party in the Hollywood hills, and she is being followed by a sleazy private detective working for a mysterious figure.

Unfortunately most of the great cast is underserved by the material. Bobby Cannavale has some fun moments but still feels underused as an L.A. detective who originally wanted to be an actor. His partner, played by Michelle Monaghan, has decidedly less to do. Giancarlo Esposito and his fabulous wig have too few scenes as Maxine’s agent. However, it’s clear that Kevin Bacon is having a good time as the sleazy private detective with a super heavy New Orleans accent. The performer with the stand out role is Elizabeth Debicki as the director of the horror movie. She is a non-threatening but steely and intimidating presence. Her tall figure looms over Goth in the few scenes where Goth gets to hint at being vulnerable and out of her element. That was the key to Pearl’s success: Mia Goth was able to show a vulnerable side as well as a psycho side. Here we have Maxine, determined and ambitious, with bursts of violent rage that hint at more beneath the surface; but we never get more. An early scene of Maxine delivering a violent comeuppance to a menacing male and another scene of her punching someone in the head while “St. Elmo's Fire” plays in the background–the highlight of the movie which has forever changed what I'll think about when I hear that song–promise a more volatile character and a more exciting movie. Even the action packed climax makes the inexplicable choice to mostly sideline Maxine both physically and dramatically. Ultimately, and most unfortunately, the person most underserved by the script and approach is Mia Goth. This is nowhere near the showcase for her great talent that Pearl provided (it's worth noting that Goth co-wrote the screenplay for Pearl ).

Setting the story against the real-life Night Stalker killings in Los Angeles is unnecessary as it seems to be more for ambiance than anything else since the murders of Maxine's friends are clearly not by the Night Stalker. The production design, costumes, and soundtrack do such a great job of establishing the era that no extra atmosphere is needed. This is not the sleek, dazzling New Wave version of the 1980's that we see so often in 21st century movies and TV shows. This is the dingy, lived in 1980's that would give way to the grunge era of the early 90's. The cars are square and look ugly, the characters drink New Coke from a beat up vending machine, and there is more brown and beige than anyone who lived in the 80’s cares to remember. When it comes, the violence is shown in close up and is gory and stylish but also empty and lacking visceral shock; it is just more ambiance.

MaXXXine is by no means a bad movie, but its best scenes are moments that promise a better movie. There is enough going on that MaXXXine feels like it is doing its own thing, more than a paint by numbers exercise like X. Mia Goth still shines but not as bright as in Pearl, far and away the best of Ti West’s “I’m a star” trilogy.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Pearl (2022)

 by A.J. 

Night 9: Psycho-Killer Night II (Qu'est-ce que c'est)

“One day the whole world’s gonna know my name.”

Pearl (2022)

In 2022 writer-director Ti West released not one but two horror films starring Mia Goth, X and a prequel, Pearl. X is a slasher film set in 1979 about a group of people making an independent porno film on a farm owned by an elderly but homicidal woman, Pearl. Mia Goth played one of the would be adult film stars and also, under heavy makeup, Pearl. X is a well made but standard genre exercise; not exceptional but not bad either. On the other side of the coin, Pearl, a prequel showing the elderly woman in her youth, is an exceptional film. While X was genre driven, following the well established formula of a slasher film, Pearl is character driven, the result of conversations West had with Goth about the background of her character. Here, as Pearl, Mia Goth gives one of the best performances of any movie from last year in one of the best films of 2022 (and one of the best horror films of the last few years). Best of all, it truly stands on its own, so you do not need to have seen or even know about X to get the full effect of Pearl.

Set in 1918 as The Great War is drawing to a close and the Spanish Flu pandemic has people fearing disease and wearing masks, we meet young and sweet Pearl, who lives on an isolated farm with her strict German immigrant mother and invalid father but dreams of leaving and becoming a movie star. The impending return of her husband Howard from the army seems to be more of a source of anxiety than joy. Her chance at stardom comes when her blonde, all-American looking sister in law Mitzy (Emma Jenkins-Purro) tells her about an audition for a touring church dance group. In the days leading up to the audition, she will reach her deadly breaking point. 

What makes Pearl a special film is Mia Goth’s performance. She has turned in great supporting performances in films like Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Vol. II, The Cure for Wellness, Suspiria (2018) and Emma.(2020), but here she really gets to shine a starring role (Yes, she is the star of X, but that script offers little for any of the performers). As a performer, Goth brings a sly, unexpected physicality to the role, from her dancing to her sudden, extreme shifts in mood and temper. Long before Pearl deals her first death blow, we know what she is capable of because of the flashes of intensity Goth shows us. She is believably sweet and naïve and innocent and also repressed and angry and maniacal and murderous. 

Ti West is a very stylish director, but every flourish in Pearl, meaning every use of technique or aesthetic highlight, enhances the story instead of drawing your attention to the style itself. The most important thing about the single take close up of Pearl’s confession is Goth’s performance, not the unbroken length of the shot. There is some incongruity however between the period setting (1918 during the sepia toned silent era) and the look and sound of the film (the lavish technicolor look of the 1950’s). The score is evocative of classic Max Steiner scores (his most famous being for Gone With the Wind) and the colors are rich and bright and vivid. The grass of the farm is bright green, the red of the barn is a vivid red, and Pearl’s overalls are a striking shade of blue. It is as though the movie draws from everything someone in the 21st century might deem classic, meaning everything from before 1960. The farm girl wishing for escape story evokes The Wizard of Oz (1939), the rich colors evoke 1950’s technicolor movies of Douglas Sirk or a Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie, the story of a girl with with a sinister side evokes Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve or Mervyn LeRoy’s The Bad Seed. In not having a specific film or genre to emulate Ti West has made a picture that feels unique. 

The set pieces are not the kills but the scenes that showcase Goth’s performance (which, yes, include the kills). Her dance with a scarecrow in a cornfield shows us her light, dreamy side. Her tongue kissing the scarecrow then realizing what she’s doing and screaming at, “I’M MARRIED!” at the scarecrow and bearing her teeth in a growl, shows us a quite different side. Her extended confessional scene, an excellently written and deeply affecting monologue delivered almost entirely in one take, is the key scene to the whole movie. A great performance really can elevate an entire movie and that is just what happens here. Pearl does indeed have that “x factor” and it is Mia Goth. 

Pearl is available to stream on Showtime, Paramount+ with Showtime, and is available on DVD/Blu-ray.