Patti Abbott recommended Precious so I finally got around to viewing it. Talk about a journey to the lowest circles of Hell! Precious is a 355 lb. 16-year-old who has been abused by both her mother (played with Satanic fury by the comedian, Mo’Nique) and her father. Her father has repeatedly raped Precious and as the movie opens, she’s pregnant for the second time (the first child has Down Syndrome). The innovative casting results in some nice surprises: Mariah Carey shows up makeup-less as a no-nonsense social worker and Lenny Kravitz is convincing as a male nurse. Based on a character in Sapphire’s memoir Push, Precious endures a horrific life. Although there’s happy music in the background as the movie comes to a close, I wasn’t convinced that Precious’ life will be anything but hellish. GRADE: B
Sufficient;y Hellish, from beginning to end, that we won’t be seeing it. Sure, films can be edifying, didactic, emotionally powerful and touching. They can be irritating and preachy too. This film is almost noir, from what I know of it. Over time my criteria for seeing a film has become will I have a good time, will it be fun to see, will I be enthralled?. So I rarely see films that are powerful lessons, reminders of the realities of the world around me. Okay, say I have my head stuck in the sand, but I see enough reality every day, both in person and via the media to suffice. I can appreciate good acting, but it’s just that, acting. Maybe I’m entering my 2nd childhood (hey, wait a minute, I’m barely out of my first one – Wife might say not even that) but I just wanna have fun. That’s why I read THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN instead of MILL ON THE FLOSS.
PRECIOUS will win some awards, Rick. Some of the acting is very good, especially Mo’Nique (the mother from Hell). But I sympathize with your wanting entertainment rather than an “in-your-face” exploration of urban life. The feeling I came away with after watching PRECIOUS was despair.
I felt like she stood a chance to make it at the end. That she had found the grit to survive. And how can you not love a movie where teachers and social workers make a difference. We’ve been saying otherwise for thirty years.
You’re right about the positive impact of teachers and social workers in this film, Patti. But that image of 16-year-old Precious holding her Down Syndrome daughter and her baby son didn’t fill me with confidence about her future. I’m glad you recommended PRECIOUS to me. It’s powerful.
PUSH was a novel rather than a memoir. We can hope for Sapphire’s sake that it wasn’t too autobiographical.
Sapphire refers to PUSH as an “autobiographical novel,” Todd. The teacher in PRECIOUS is modeled on Sapphire.
Mariah is one of those females who becomes increasingly beautiful with age! And her performance becomes more comfortable and variable. She’s an artist who is continually working to perfect her art form.
I completely agree, Alice.