Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009) directed by Lee Daniels
My first thoughts while watching Precious was, "Man, that is harsh." I repeated this line to myself over and over throughout the movie. This is a brutal, ugly, and heart breaking film, yet manages to squeeze in redemption and hope amidst scenes of gut wrenching pain. Precious is sixteen years old with a kid and another one on the way. The father of these kids? Her own father who rapes her. And where does Precious's mother fit in? She blames Precious for everything wrong in her life, accusing her of stealing her man. When you think domestic abuse, you think a slap or a shove, maybe the belt. Well, Precious's mother throws glass cups, hits her with a frying pan and at one point attempts to drop a television set on her from over two stories high. This is the life Precious must survive through, what she must inevitably try to escape from.
The film is dominated by powerhouse performances by Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Precious, and Mo'Nique, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as her mother Mary. The thing that struck me about the performances are how real they feel. Sidibe is utterly convincing as a shy, quiet girl with low self esteem. Her tears seem genuine, the pain on her face real. She handles herself very well, providing many powerful scenes varying from quiet sadness to frustrated rage.
Mo'Nique's performance deserves a paragraph of its own. Her character may very well be an all time best villain in a film, certainly one of the most villainous characters I've seen in the past decade. She is so vile and hateful it is almost sickening to watch and I'm not even necessarily talking about the scenes of physical abuse; the verbal and mental abuse she dishes out is absolutely soul crushing. There is a scene in the beginning of the film where she just rips into Precious with such vitriol that I just shook my head, mouth open in shock. Somehow this is the same actress that starred in those corny sit-coms on UPN.
I thought this was a well made film. I liked the fact that the film takes some risks in its style too. Whenever Precious is confronted with bad situations she escapes to her happy place and lets her imagination run wild providing a fresh of breath air in such an intensely serious movie.
Powerful movie with powerful performances.
Grade: A-
My first thoughts while watching Precious was, "Man, that is harsh." I repeated this line to myself over and over throughout the movie. This is a brutal, ugly, and heart breaking film, yet manages to squeeze in redemption and hope amidst scenes of gut wrenching pain. Precious is sixteen years old with a kid and another one on the way. The father of these kids? Her own father who rapes her. And where does Precious's mother fit in? She blames Precious for everything wrong in her life, accusing her of stealing her man. When you think domestic abuse, you think a slap or a shove, maybe the belt. Well, Precious's mother throws glass cups, hits her with a frying pan and at one point attempts to drop a television set on her from over two stories high. This is the life Precious must survive through, what she must inevitably try to escape from.
The film is dominated by powerhouse performances by Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Precious, and Mo'Nique, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as her mother Mary. The thing that struck me about the performances are how real they feel. Sidibe is utterly convincing as a shy, quiet girl with low self esteem. Her tears seem genuine, the pain on her face real. She handles herself very well, providing many powerful scenes varying from quiet sadness to frustrated rage.
Mo'Nique's performance deserves a paragraph of its own. Her character may very well be an all time best villain in a film, certainly one of the most villainous characters I've seen in the past decade. She is so vile and hateful it is almost sickening to watch and I'm not even necessarily talking about the scenes of physical abuse; the verbal and mental abuse she dishes out is absolutely soul crushing. There is a scene in the beginning of the film where she just rips into Precious with such vitriol that I just shook my head, mouth open in shock. Somehow this is the same actress that starred in those corny sit-coms on UPN.
I thought this was a well made film. I liked the fact that the film takes some risks in its style too. Whenever Precious is confronted with bad situations she escapes to her happy place and lets her imagination run wild providing a fresh of breath air in such an intensely serious movie.
Powerful movie with powerful performances.
Grade: A-
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