My name is Clarice ‘Precious’ Jones…
And so starts off the movie Precious, an unimaginably grim yet somehow uplifting story about an illiterate 16 year old obese girl living in conditions most of us could never imagine. Verbal and physically abused by her mother and pregnant for the second time by her father, Precious has the opportunity to enroll in an alternative school and try and make something out of her life with the help of a teacher (Paula Patton, amazingly beautiful and saintly).
Without giving too much story away, this is one of the best acted movies I have seen in a while, everyone in the ensemble plays their roles from the main characters to the students(who provide much needed comic relief) to the blink and you’ll miss it cameos (Lenny Kravitz and Sherri Sheppard). Heck, even Mariah Carey is getting glowing reviews for her role as a social worker charged with Precious’ case. Gabourey Sidibe is a revelation as Precious, her spirit to live being the only thing keeping her going. In what would be a very tough role for a seasoned actress, she excels in her FIRST acting role with quiet stares and emotional heartbreaks.
But the real star of the movie is Mo’Nique. She steals every scene she is in and wil almost assuredly win the Oscar for Supporting Actress. So unrelenting as Precious’ mother, she casts a larger than life shadow over the movie, naturally as she has dominated Precious’ life. I found myself shrinking in my seat out of anticipation, dreading everytime she came on screen. And my God that last scene with her and Mariah Carey was cinematically magical. Mo’Nique reminded me so much of Forrest Whitaker in The Last King of Scottland in the way she was able to toy with my emotions, bringing a few drops of sympathy to a pretty difficult character to care about.
All of this notwithstanding, the movie isn’t perfect. Seeing a movie amidst the overwhelming hype pretty much leaves the movie nowhere to go but down. Either its as good as you think it will be or you come out disappointed. Having not read the book, I did think that the movie had one too many fantasy sequences that were just thrown in to take our mind off the grim story and I had to claw my way back in the story. I do agree that they were necessary to keeping the auidence from being too depressed and Lee Daniels compassionate direction brought humility to this overwhelming story.
This movie is set to be a major player in the awards race and its a welcome entry to the usual stagnant field.
My Grade: A 🙂