Earlier this year, “Selma” star David Oyelowo celebrated the 10th anniversary of Ava DuVernay’s Civil Rights drama by recounting something that one of the film’s executive producers — a fellow named Brad Pitt — had told him a decade ago. As Oyelowo recalled to Deadline, he was miffed about the movie’s so-so box office gross (for the record, it made a little over three times its $20 million budget, which would be nothing to sneeze at in 2024) and the fact that it only snagged a pair of Oscar nods (including, admittedly, one for Best Picture), feeling — correctly! — that it deserved better. Pitt, in response, told the actor not to worry, assuring him he wouldn’t know “what your film is” for another 10 years.
Pitt was correct; far from being forgotten, “Selma” is now justly regarded as a modern classic, with Oyelowo’s performance having come to be seen as perhaps the definitive portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. onscreen. Certainly streaming, for all of its failings, played a key role in bringing a film like “Selma” the audience it deserves. Yes, it’s harder than ever for smaller and more obscure titles or box office flops to become cult hits, but if you’re lucky enough to get your movie on a platform like Netflix, it can suddenly gain a whole new lease on life.
Of course, the streamer itself is a double-edged sword. For every lesser-seen title that actually deserves its success on the service (like Bryan Cranston’s legal drama series “Your Honor”), it seems like yet another tedious Kevin Hart vehicle somehow ends up topping the Netflix charts. Thankfully, this week’s surprise entry in the Netflix top 10 — Ti West and Mia Goth’s critically-acclaimed 2022 horror movie “Pearl” — is one of those titles that does indeed merit a second wind.
Pearl is a star … on Netflix
For us chronically online folks, it’s easy to forget that your average Netflix subscriber had probably never even heard of “Pearl” before it popped up on the service at the start of this month — much less has any idea it’s part of a whole-ass trilogy of horror genre pastiches that includes “X” and “MaXXXine” (which were also directed by West). The streaming aggregator FlixPatrol is now reporting that “Pearl” has cracked the service’s top 10 in the U.S. as of August 20, 2024, and may yet stay there in the days ahead alongside the likes of “Minions” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” That’s not bad, considering “Pearl” made less in its entire theatrical run ($10.1 million) than both of those billion-dollar animated juggernauts farted out in a few hours on opening day.
A prequel to West’s trilogy-launching “X” (which also hit theaters in 2022), “Pearl” explores the life of its namesake — who perpetrated the so-called Texas Porn Star Murders as an elderly woman (Goth in old-age makeup) in “X” — as a young small-town woman (also Goth, sans old-age makeup) with big dreams during WWI. Here’s what I wrote about “Pearl” ahead of its Netflix premiere:
West imbues this story with the stylings of the Technicolor classics that Pearl finds so dazzling, with the results playing like “The Wizard of Oz” re-imagined as a twisted horror film about the dark side of showbiz ambition. Most of all, it’s Goth who really impresses as both the film’s lead and co-writer, delivering a tour-de-force performance that culminates with a killer one-take monologue. Horrific, sad, and funny all at once, this is one trip under the rainbow you won’t want to miss.
With all three entries in West’s “X” trilogy now available on digital or streaming, this is as good a time for you newcomers to see what all the fuss is about. Who know: Maybe 10 years from now, Pearl herself will be the star she always dreamed of becoming.
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