Cast: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton

Director: Lee Daniels

Screenplay: Lee Daniels

Running time: 1 hr 50 mins

Genre: Drama



CRITIQUE:


Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire has a rather off-putting title that suggests of screaming teenage girls, sparkles, unicorns and glitters. But fear not, the film is not what the title insinuates. Anyone who thinks that an American film cloyingly named ‘Precious’ might be another addition to the artless Twilight generation, and that perhaps Sapphire is a new moniker adopted by Paris Hilton, is very wrong. This autobiographical tale of a 16-year old Harlem girl who goes through sadistic domestic violence and rape is barely the frivolous stuff that Hollywood is mostly made of these days. And to mention that the wretched heroine is of a hulking overweight, almost illiterate, inarticulate, intermittently vicious when provoked and very black doesn’t make this an ordinary portrayal of a life lived through hell. Especially when she has a ruthless father who rapes her and gives her two babies. Especially when one has a cold-blooded, potty-mouth monster of a mother who, instead of be repulsed by the atrocities of the husband, transfers her hate to the daughter, apparently ‘stealing’ him from her.


Lee Daniels makes a gruelling watch in Precious, almost a scatological view of despair in the worst recesses of humanity, those good-for-nothing, couch-potatoes who only wanted to receive welfare whilst their children estimate how much they’re really worth. When Precious is being asked about her pregnancy, she remains blank, even defensive. When she is taunted by jokey remarks, she lashes out at her tormentors. And in the face of her self-esteem demolishing mother, she launches into a self-created fantasy of fabulous frocks, red carpet walks and flashes of hundreds of cameras surrounding her. Amateur actress Gabourey Sidibe blows a portrayal of Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones out of the park, rendering the character warmth, empathy and a strong feminist value. And comedienne Mo’nique transforms as the nihilistic matriarch, with swearwords firing out her mouth like invisible bullets, but draws a breathtaking character arc that gives this terrible mother another dimension. Her raw, excruciating confession in the end, squeezed out by a world-weary, no-bullshit social worker Miss Weiss (Mariah Carey in a mindboggling metamorphosis, so utterly convincing), will have your heart torn apart – a savage truth that one cannot give love when love is deprived.


But it’s not all gloom – there’s hope somewhere in the future of Precious, and she knows it starts with herself. The movie is at its best depicting atrocious scenarios, but becomes obvious in the self-redeeming parts. Precious’ course in an alternative school is somewhat weighed down by a sense of conventionality in filmmaking. When you see so much school-set, overcoming-adversity school dramas, you’ll get the feeling where this is going to end. Good, then, that this doesn’t sugar-coats anything.



VERDICT:


A bruising yet ultimately redemptive 80’s Harlem hell drama featuring exceptional performances by its leads and supporting players. Sidibe gives a fearless screen debut defying any Hollywood glamorisation, Mo’nique creates one of cinema’s fiercest matriarchal monsters, and even Carey is astonishing. Some minor melodrama and absurd stylish choices by director Lee Daniels aside, Precious is a gut-wrenching watch that surely gallops as the dark horse for this year’s Oscar race.



RATING: A-