Customer Reviews

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

5 star:		(101)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Perhaps "thought provoking" isn't the right phrase to use. This movie will whip you about and leave you breathless, most especially if you've never really considered the plight of children/people like Precious.

I have been teaching adult students for a little over ten years now, and I have had many women whose backgrounds were similar to Precious' background, so the subject matter wasn't new to me. I expected to be moved, but I didn't expect to have to struggle to stop crying after the movie was over.

The movie is about a teenager named Precious (a truly ironic name, as she is told and shown repeatedly that she is NOT precious to anyone in her immediate circle) and the horrific circumstances of her life at the age of 16. She is pregnant with her second child, the product of incest (her "father" rapes her, a fact which her mother chooses instead to see as Precious threatening her by taking away her man and giving him more babies than he ever allowed the mom to have), and she is barely holding together some semblance of a normal life by keeping her true circumstances from everyone around her.

When her school principal becomes aware of her pregnancy, she decides to send Precious to an alternative school, and for the first time, the teenager has an opportunity to see her own potential and to have that potential respected by others. It's a truly life-altering opportunity, and Precious takes it.

What's really amazing in this film is the excellence of the acting. You've likely heard time and time again how Mariah Carey doesn't wear makeup and looks haggard and old, and you've probably heard about Monique's superb turn as Precious' mother. What can't be conveyed without you actually watching the movie is what all that means. To me, it meant witnessing moments when an actor found ways to manipulate his/her body language and expressions to create a character in one movement. Precious, for example, is both a burdened, pitiful human being whose scrunched-up face and blank expression tell the audience that she is very nearly spiritually dead. Then, in an instant, she begins to daydream, and her body, her expression, her entire carriage is transformed. She radiates happiness and sensuality, a sense of being totally alive and joy-filled. It's more than the clothing and makeup. It's everything that shows up on her face, in the way she moves, in the lifting of her brow so that she no longer looks closed off to life. Incredible.

Monique is also excellent, from the bland expression of a couch potato who is frozen before the tube to the rage of a woman who feels betrayed by the very daughter she has betrayed so often. Awesome. There is a scene where she is trying to convince someone that she loves Precious, and she earnestly tries to prove that she has strongly positive and loving memories of her daughter, only to find that she can't even get the dates in the memory right, that she can't get something as important as a milestone date right. The expression on her face as she realizes both the depths of her own abandonment of her daughter and the fact that others can see through her I'm-a-great-mom facade--excellent.

There are many uncomfortable moments in this movie, moments that made my fellow audience members laugh but which truly were heartbreaking. In the midst of horrible abuse, a tiny glimmer of something funny--so tough to take, but also evidence of how life is rarely simply one thing or another.

Precious' life will blow you away if you've never met or known anyone like her. It will sadden you, and hopefully it will enrage you enough to do more for people like her. I know that it made me think about the strong women I've taught who pulled themselves out of situations like the one depicted in the movie, and it made me more determined to really get to know my students so that someone like Precious will not slip through the cracks when I can possibly help.

See this movie because the acting is so superb. Remember it because its imagery is powerful and real. And hopefully, never forget that there are many, many women and children out there who have had lives like Precious'.

To my surprise, this soul-baring 2009 drama is neither as painful nor depressing as the subject matter would imply. In fact, director Lee Daniels' treatment alternates so fluently between gritty realism, social uplift, and fanciful episodes of fantasy that the end result is as much enthralling as it is emotionally draining. First-time screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher does a solid job adapting the 1996 source novel by Sapphire, Push, but the strength and honesty of the cast is what sears in the memory. Daniels could have been otherwise charged with stunt casting had he not drawn out such powerhouse work from the out-of-left-field likes of comedienne Mo'Nique and pop diva Mariah Carey. Granted Daniels in his second directorial effort is not the most subtle of filmmakers (his first film was the strangely exotic Shadowboxer), but he does bring a level of florid passion that the subject desperately needs to alleviate the unrelenting bleakness of the title character's existence.

Set in Harlem in 1987, the story centers on sixteen-year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones, a morbidly obese girl so void of self-worth that she refers to herself without irony as "ugly black grease to be washed from the street". Nearly illiterate, she finds herself pregnant for the second time by her father, and the school principal arranges to enroll Precious at an "alternative" institution. She recognizes this as an opportunity to better herself, but her mother Mary discourages it and forces Precious to apply for welfare. The unenviable mother-daughter relationship is the crux of the film, and it is here the film gives an unblinking account of monstrous physical and psychological abuse that explains the sharp contrast between Precious' inner and outer lives. On the outside, she is a forlorn yet formidable presence with a face so full that she can't express emotion without a great deal of effort. On the inside, she is loved and admired unconditionally. The two slowly come together at Precious' new school where she finds acceptance and redemption through a dedicated teacher (improbably named Blu Rain), who must get through to a classroom full of girls all disadvantaged in their own ways.

The birth of Precious' son, along with the bonding she feels at school, signals a harrowing showdown between mother and daughter and ultimately a confrontation between Mary and Mrs. Weiss, the no-nonsense social worker who seeks the truth behind Precious' home life. In the title role, Gabourey Sidibe is ideally cast given the film's semi-documentary approach. An untrained actress, she is able to elicit empathy by giving herself completely to the inchoate character, and when Precious breaks down from the weight of yet another seemingly insurmountable development, Sidibe gives the scene a halting honesty. Paula Patton (Swing Vote) gets to play the Sidney Poitier role of the elegantly transformative teacher as Ms. Rain, but she gives the too-good-to-be-true character a palpable sense of passion. As Mrs. Weiss, a role originally slated for Helen Mirren (who co-starred in Daniels' "Shadowboxer"), Mariah Carey, bereft of her glistening make-up and diva mannerisms, brings an audacious toughness to her smallish but pivotal role.

However, it is Mo'Nique (Phat Girlz) who gives the film's most shattering performance. I don't know what emotional reservoir she is tapping into, but she nails Mary with a fury so startling and realistic that it's impossible to trivialize the source of her villainy. She never compromises the hardness in her character, and her self-justifying monologue is an impressive piece of work. There is also solid work from a couple of other unusually cast performers, comedienne Sherri Shepherd (of the morning TV talkfest "The View") as a tough school administrator aptly named Cornrows and Lenny Kravitz as a sympathetic male nurse, and a scene-stealing turn from Xosha Roquemore as the ebullient Joann ("My favorite color is florescent beige"). Not all of Daniels' left-turn devices work, for instance, using Sophia Loren's Two Women as the basis of one of Precious' fantasies seems contrived given only a die-hard cineaste would understand the connection. Regardless, it's no wonder that Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry put their stamp of approval on the film as executive producers since Precious ultimately finds a personal triumph despite the hand life has dealt her.

This movie shows the reality of lives that are affected by incest and where choice seems a fairy tale. Both of Precious' parents are locked in a life of immorality and illegality and have no way out. Precious too seems headed down that road but for the intervention of her principal that moves her to an alternative school where she can get individual attention and where her past does not have to swallow her. Much abusive language but the effect puts the viewer into Precious' life so that you too can experience the threats and put downs. Not for the faint hearted but more films like this are needed to awake the world to the effects of incest and ridicule. First class acting throughout. A must see really! It is ironic that all of the people I know named Precious have had lives that attempted to stunt their development. What's in a name?

With the many nominations and awards Precious is likely to receive this year, I'm fairly confident "feel-good movie of the year" won't be one of them. This film pulls no punches, and given the path it could have taken in trying to gloss up bleak and violent subject matter into a more thrilling and stylized type drama (see Slumdog Millionaire), I commend this movie for sticking to its guns.

The driving force behind this movie is the unyielding performance of Mo'Nique, who plays Precious's verbally and physically abusive mother, Mary. I would be very surprised not to see her name in the Best Supporting Actress ballot this year. Gabourey Sidibe, in the role of Precious, also delivers a tender and heartbreaking performance as an obese, illiterate 16-year old who has suffered from a lifetime of brutality and neglect. Even Mariah Carey (yes, that Mariah Carey) does a very good job in her small role as a sympathetic yet hard-nosed social worker trying to get Precious to finally open up about her violent and trauma filled home life.

It's some of the little things in this film that really make it work. For instance, there is a scene about halfway through the film where Precious is sitting in her hospital room after recently giving birth to her second child. Her life outlook at this point is nothing short of dreadful, yet surrounded by her friends from class and her doctor who proves to be one of the few people in her life who actually care about her, Precious seems to be genuinely happy for the first time in her life.

While Lee Daniels directing proves to be very erratic at times, the strengths of lead performances are what really carry this movie along. While I wouldn't call it a masterpiece like many other seem to be doing, Precious is still a very good film that takes a gritty and honest look into the life of a child succumbed to a lifetime of physical and mental abuse.

-Jeffrey Ryan

[...]

I meant to write a review of "Precious" even before I watched it. Lots of times, writing the review is more satisfying than watching the film. This is harder. I felt my heart constrict in the first scene of Precious. My eyes and temple began to throb. I could scarcely catch my breath the rest of the way through the film. "Life" requires too much of us sometimes. Sometimes even a simulation of Life requires too much.

Improbable as it may seem, coming from a retired classical musician like me, who has lived fairly well most of his life, a lot of the misery portrayed in Precious is horribly familiar and real. The poverty and brutishness and the haplessness of both takers and givers of "welfare" are not exaggerated here. Yeah, things seldom move that quickly or that much in 'real time', and yeah, Precious's classmates evolve from intolerable to empathetic as if by miracle. But the story line isn't very central to this film, or rather to my response to this film, which is all Sorrow for all of us, from Precious to Queen Elizabeth II. Life hurts too much. The rosy glow of Hope in "Precious", which some critics have applauded and some derided, is more light than warmth. There really isn't much chance for that girl-woman in the film, except for the one-in-sixty-million chance that she'll be discovered by a film maker.

"Precious" had a hundred times the impact on me that "The Hurt Locker" had. But I can't sit in judgment on the "art" of it as cinema. For sure, I won't forget it as quickly as I do most films.

Precious takes you on an emotional journey that you will not likely forget. There are some remarkable performances but the only one that stands out is Monique's character. She plays an abusive mother that knowingly let her daughter be molested. She actually blames Precious for her man leaving. She is so full of self hatred and anger it's hard to see how Precious has survived this long. The young lady playing Precious does a great job of portraying how broken Precious is. Precious's imagination is the only thing that gives her a break from all the abuse. I can't imagine anyone else playing the role of Precious. Mariah Carey has a small part in this movie. Her acting skills have improved but wow she looks really old without makeup. Some people will go to see this thinking that it's one of those inspirational movies. This is not one of those movies where at the end something positive happens and things start to look up for the main character. Things look even worse for Precious at the end of this film. Please keep an open mind. I actually wanted to give this movie 5 stars but it feels unfinished. You feel a little cheated at the end of the movie because nothing is resolved. However, Precious is easily one of the most captivating films i've seen in awhile. Not only is this one a Must See, you have to buy this one. It will be a welcomed edition to my dvd collection. HOLLA

Hype is often undeserved, especially when it comes to films. Add to the fact that PRECIOUS had Oprah attached to it and you might back off even further. But there's no need. This film, for all intents and purposes, is a phenomenon that deserves your attention.

Garnering two Academy Award wins and multiple, smaller award show prizes, Precious is ...well ...precious. The story could've gotten dark and downright depressing. I mean, we're talking about an abused, overweight teenager who's now into her second pregnancy (incestuous pregnancy, I might add), and one can see where you could surmise this to be a gloom-and-doom movie. It isn't. It's hopeful and surprisingly upbeat. And it's well-acted by a veritable group of unknowns.

In the prime role of Precious we have Gabby Sidibe, a first time wannabe actress who serendipitously found the casting location and locked in the role. She was the perfect choice, and gave off a sense of foreboding and hope throughout the film's length. Her flattened emotional state at home, where she's abused by her mother, contrasts perfectly with her life outside where she's trying to better herself against tremendous odds.

But if Gabby was perfect, the woman who played Mary (her Mother) was ...beyond perfection. Mo'Nique (Beerfest) pulls in the performance of a lifetime. Uneducated, uninspired, confused, and ill-equipped to deal with just about anything, Mo'Nique played the part so beastfully that it was sometimes hard to watch what she might do next. She was the perfect manipulator.

Director Lee Daniels is one of those people who aren't afraid to steer directly into the path of controversy, and does so here with an able hand. You may have heard of his other successes; things like Monster's Ball and The Woodsman. No? Then I highly recommend you check them out if you enjoyed Precious.

I would warn parents, though, that Precious has a very appropriate R rating attached. The scenes of incest (although short-lived) are vivid, and there's liberal use of violence against infants and teens, as well as language that'd make a p0rn-star blush. But all of it is done in an appropriate context, never for shock value.

Precious deserves your attention. Not because it won an award, or because Oprah's attached to it. It deserves to be watched because there are too many kids out there going through this very same ordeal in social silence. Shame, despair, and anger eat at these kids. It's a miracle any of them come out the other side in a functional manner. Which is why Precious will inspire you.

Once a movie or book has garnered a significant number of reviews I always read the one and two star reviews to try and assess why a minority of people feel so strongly that a work is so overwhelmingly bad as to merit the ultimate negative reviews. With Precious there is an interesting trend (or trendlet?)of dissing the movie for being depressing. This should hardly come as a surprise to anyone who's read or heard anything about it before seeing it. Of course it is! And avoiding being reminded of the more distressing aspects of life does nothing to dispel the realities for all too many people. Precious is not, contrary to one negative review, thoroughly unlikable, rather she is shielded and guarded by a fantasy life from the worst moments of inescapable misery and horror. She lives entirely in her fantasies as an escape, dissociating herself from that which she cannot literally remove herself. She has no friends, no adequate defenses, and only the hope to be found in her technicolored rock star/supermodel dreams.

I find it interesting that the negative reviews completely avoid the obvious: Precious is a film about the ultimate stereotypical Welfare denizens, poor, Black, and multi-generational losers mooching professionally off the system and wanting nothing else. There is a significant segment of our society who would clasp this film to its collective bosom whilst chanting "See? Like them!" Veddy in-te-res-tinck. But the film is more than that; it is a powerful example of the impact a little attention and effort to reach out to those who hurt can accomplish. No, the movie doesn't end with flowers and rainbows everywhere, it ends with a wan ray of hope shining in the dark. In the end, Precious escapes her hopeless prison by deciding she will define herself. One can only hope she manages to do so, against all odds.

****THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!!!***

The first thing you *must* understand about this film is that it is not based on a true story, as many think it is. Ramona Lofton, the woman who wrote "Push", which is the book that the movie is based on, worked for many years as a teacher. While employed as an educator, many of her students were victims of incredible abuse, and many of them were in absolutely awful situations. She funneled all of the events that she became privy to from her students into a single character, namely Precious, which is why this fictional... let me repeat, *fictional* character's life seems so bleak.

There are blatant depictions of rape and abuse in this movie that are so brutal and disgusting that it will turn your stomach. Yes, I know film is supposed to shock us into action, but it will only leave you mentally exhausted from enduring watching it. Also, if you are a survivor of sexual abuse yourself, this movie is not safe!!

This movie depicts a situation so hopeless, so bleak, and so awful, that it will only push you away from wanting to have any contact with the less fortunate. It will leave you depressed, rather than inspired to do anything, which movies like this should really do.

People need to understand that criticizing films like this doesn't make you culturally or socially insensitive. I am certain that many of the five star reviews are written strictly out of guilt, or fear of being labeled "elitist" or, dare I say it, "racist". This movie is terrible, it's purpose is misguided, and the end result of this movie even existing produces nothing positive.

And before you make any judgments or assumptions about me and my standpoint, I've worked in the ghetto, I've been face to face with people who have faced similar situations.

I've been trying to see all of the movies that feature large in the awards season and frankly had been putting this one off. By and large I've not been impressed by the films that have received many of the nominations this year. Many of them are amazingly bland and disappointing. PRECIOUS is a delightful exception. Not that it is a delightful film. It is often hard to watch, but nonetheless moving and very powerful. The story of a morbidly obese, illiterate sixteen-year-old who is pregnant with her second child (both by her father) and physically abused by her hopelessly inept mother (played brilliantly by Mo'Nique), this should have been the bummer film to end all bummer films. But you really come to love Clarice (Precious). Despite things getting worse and worse for her, you feel a tremendous sense of triumph for her when she manages to pull her reading level up from a second grade to a seventh grade level. And despite the horrid abuse that she has suffered, she is determined to be a better mother to her two children than either her mother or father were to her.

And what can you say about Gabourey Sidibe? This is one of the great debut performances ever by an actress. Ironically, in the depths of her horrible life Precious daydreams of being loved and finding improbable success as a celebrity, including a movie star. Now, I'm sure Gabourey Sidibe has not had a bad life, but who in the world would fantasize about getting an Oscar nomination for her first screen role? But that is precisely what she has achieved. And it is a nomination that she richly deserved, just as Mo'Nique deserved her nomination as best supporting actress. Mariah Carey also does a very credible job in a small but important supporting role.

The movie is also a terrible indictment of American society. On the one hand we are in the gripes of a national fever of hatred towards government, the only entity in most countries that does much to help salvage the lives of others. On the other hand, we are in the grips of a national passion for self-interested greed, with a vast right wing that has subtly absorbed libertarian notions (deriving not only from Ayn Rand, but especially from her) that compassion is a vice and blind self-interest a virtue. More than any other developed nation and despite almost inconceivable national wealth, millions of Americans suffer the fate of children like Precious. I personally consider those who possess the kind of self-interest advocated by Rand and many conservatives to be nothing short of monstrous, to be aberrations of nature, moral deformities. One of my closest friends is a social worker and says that Precious's story is far from unique, but in fact a commonplace. Why we in America, the richest country in the world, won't do anything to help all Americans is a mystery to me.

This ought to be a must-see movie for everyone. It is an extremely well-acted, deeply moving, and well-directed film that anyone who loves movies will enjoy.