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Precious (Film)
Rating: MA
Running Time: 110
Distributor: Icon
Release Date: February 04, 2010
Film Worth: $14.50
FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worthUndeniably rewarding experience boosted by top drawer performances
The titular Precious is Claireece Jones (played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old Harlem girl whose apathetic exterior hides a nightmarish life. Her mother, Mary (Mo'Nique), is a sadistic, unstable tyrant. She treats Precious as her personal slave, and thinks nothing of throwing a glass at her daughter's head if she thinks that she's being rude or lazy. We soon find out why her mother might be consumed with such hatred, but it only makes us pity Precious more: Precious is pregnant, raped by her (now absent) father, and this is her second child to him. On top of this, Precious is living on welfare, is unhealthily obese and illiterate, and her future seems utterly bleak. The only coping mechanism that she's got is her imagination, where she conjures elaborate fantasies of stardom, beauty and happiness. These become the audience's coping strategy as well, giving us a chance to recover from scenes of disturbing brutality.
More tangible hope is offered, though, when Precious is given a place at an alternative school. With the help of English teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins to read and write, and in the process learns that she has the power to make her life better.
Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, a poet and former teacher to disadvantaged kids in Harlem, Precious shows us the depths and the heights to which humanity can reach, but director Lee Daniels never taints his film with melodrama and contrivance. It's an ambitious film, but it succeeds due to its two main actors. Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique are utterly compelling, and hopefully their performances will be recognised come Oscar time.