Precious - B+

In theaters. Rated R, 109 minutees. Trailer.

Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is an obese, black, poor and pregnant (by her father) 16 year old girl living in Harlem in 1987 with her sadistically abusive mother (Mo'Nique). After her high school suspends her because of her (second) pregnancy, she is placed at an alternative school where she meets a compassionate teacher and begins a tenuous journey to 'normal'. Part movie of the week, part unflinching portrait of poverty and incest, the film works on many levels and exhibits a refreshing lack of preaching with a story that could've been turned into a boring object lesson. Click below for more Precious:



While mostly a downer, the film has some funny scenes and gives a glimmer of hope in spite of the terrible circumstances. Mo'Nique's mother character is lazy, mean, and entirely dependent on welfare. She hates Precious because her boyfriend (and Precious' father) prefers Precious to her and she takes that hatred out on Precious with vicious physical and emotional abuse. After she leaves her high school and heads to the alternative school, Precious meets Miss Rain, an attractive liberal that teaches a class of extremely troubled teens. Her illiteracy and pregnancy are huge hurdles that the film doesn't solve, but she does make progress.

The film's most powerful scenes all involve Mo'Nique's character, especially the extremely tense scene when Precious brings her baby home and one of the best scenes of the year when mother has to cop to all the abuse face to face with Precious (with the help of a social worker). Her performance is a tour-de-force, and she should win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress whether she campaigns for it or not. I also thought Mariah Carey (social worker) and Lenny Kravitz (male nurse) provided great layering to the film in their performances. Sidibe is also impressive.

Director Lee Daniels uses various styles and film stocks throughout the movie to convey the mood and escapism of Precious, and deserves his likely Oscar nomination for Best Director. There are several interesting issues that are dealt with in the film, namely AIDS, incest, abuse, homosexuality, black culture, social programs and a shockingly candid indictment of welfare. In a letter writing exchange with Miss Rains, Precious trades comments about welfare checks and arguments for and against keeping her baby (and her first child with down syndrome, referred to throughout the film as Mongo) - this sequence has many thoughtful statements and keeps the evenhanded tone of the film.

Most critics have coupled this with The Blind Side since they both involve a black teen emerging from a horrible ghetto culture to some success - but Precious is a much darker and realistic film (and much better).