Pearl

Simple plotline and the acting that never touches the heart.

Anthony LaPaglia was solid throughout, that's the only real positive I have here. Otherwise, this movie, with so much potential for emotion in its subject matter, seriously lacked a punch. I love indies and finding hidden gems but this was very amateurish in execution and dialogue, and failed to move me emotionally. Skip this one.

Characters were underdeveloped, the climactic point wasn't developed enough either. It just left me hanging at the end. If the movie had been given more time, it could have been truly excellent, but there were too many characters who had conflicts/things to settle with the main character, Pearl. These never got resolved at the end. At the end I was thinking, "What about the struggle with this person? The issue this person has?" Well, you don't get to know what happens to them. So although the movie could have been great, there was about a half hour or more that seems to have been cut off at the end. The movie does draw an important point: Americans are greatly spoiled, and Pearl was a great example of this. Maybe the writer was thinking in that same spoiled mind frame, not taking to account what happens to the other characters. Hence, I give it five stars for some good parts, but really that made it all the more disappointing when a couple of main characters/issues were, for lack of better wording, just thrown out the window.

My husband and I watched Pearl the other night and found it beautiful to watch, even though the subject matter was darker than I expected. The first thought we had after watching the film was .... "poetry in motion." There was a touch of metaphysics in a graveyard scene near the end that brought in a few tears, along with a skosh of the spiritual and the unknown knowingness that there is a thread in life that is unseen, but often felt. Moments at those intersections help to recalibrate difficult, sometimes untenable emotions. We thought the director did a damn good job of dealing with trauma and tragedy in a unique way. We enjoy films that encourage us to look between the lines at what isn't being said.... Pearl did that for us. The light hand of music placed thoughtfully throughout was a beautiful choice. And Patti Scialfa's voice is angelic. We're embarrassed to say we had never heard its stand alone unique beauty before. The music and the lyrics touched us deeply. Good performances from the cast. Solid direction from the director.

The acting was dreadful. Pearl could have learned responsibility at the end of the film, but she didn't. Instead, she is glorified for what she did. Life isn't that simple. The film ends too abruptly.