PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE

MO’NEEEEEEQUE!!!!!!  I had to open with that so that you’d get the sense of the how shocking, dynamic and brilliant she was.  Do I smell an Oscar nom? Perhaps many for this much heralded film.  It’s safe to say, that I haven’t seen too many films that were as brutal a reflection of the life of abused and neglected children.  But the film is also full of levity, moments of humor, the absurdities of life, to lighten the load.

Precious is an obese, dark-skinned 16 year old who lives as a virtual slave to her mother, Mary (Mo’Nique) in Harlem.  Precious is pregnant with her second child, the product of repeated rape and sexual abuse by her father. Her first child, who is developmentally disabled is also the product of this “relationship.”  Although 16, Precious is still in junior high school where she fantasizes about her math teacher, but is thankfully sent to an alternative school where she finds herself, for the first time, deeply cared about and for by a lovely teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton).  In the classroom she finds herself amongst a typically motley crew of outcasts and underachievers.

Despite the familiarity of the up from poverty story, the relentlessness of Precious’ situation makes it extraordinary.  It is somewhat reminiscent of Just Another Girl on the IRT, yet is situationally more horrifying: a bit more melodrama than realism.  Mary is an extreme off the charts villain, juxtaposed against her almost angelic (see the promo posters) daughter.   When Precious disassociates (a common occurrence for victims of sexual abuse) she is on the red carpet, or at a photo shoot or in some other high key, technicolor performance space, as opposed to the drab grays, browns and blacks used to depict Precious’ life.   In other words, the contrasts are stark: good/evil, dark/light, victim/perpetrator.  But just because it’s melodrama, doesn’t mean it’s not telling an authentic story:  countless children are abused and neglected, many of whom fantasize that fame will magically, transform them.  It is a testament the author Sapphire’s ability to shape a story that is so brutally harsh without eroticizing the violence for audience consumption.

Director Lee Daniels puts together and unlikely crew of stars and superstars to drive his drama, and they underplay and deliver accordingly.  As over the top as Mo’Nique plays it, she’s virtually unrecognizable.  Mariah Carey as a drab, slightly depressed social worker is surprisingly effective, and I’m not sure why the male nurse played by Lenny Kravitz was around but he was quiet and sweet.  It’s as if everyone involved wanted to let the story through, a story that needed to be shown, and I guess the director  reserved the star turns for the two main characters.  It’s a film that deserves the buzz it has gotten and will hopefully attract a lot of moviegoers who need to be presented with an alternative to Jon & Kate, reminded of the consequences of the child abuse and neglect they laugh at through reports about the “Octomom”.

All that being said, there are reservations: I didn’t love it like I wanted to or expected to.  I think Gabourey Sidibe had quite a challenge, carrying a film without acting experience and going up against someone like Mo’Nique, with not much character development to draw on as far as the script was concerned anyway.  It may also have to do with the need to give us a hopeful ending, the melodramatic need for triumph, uplift.  Yet it’s hard to believe that given her circumstances, almost from birth, Precious could make a go of it, and that left me wrung out and battered.   

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire opens Nov. 6, 2009.

Directed by Lee Daniels; written by Geoffrey Fletcher from the novel by Sapphire; produced by Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness; Director of Photography, Andrew Dunn; edited by Joe Klotz; music by Mario Grigorov.  Released by Lionsgate.  Running time: 109 minutes.

With: Gabourey Sidibe (Precious); Mo’Nique (Mary); Paula Patton (Ms. Rain); Mariah Carey (Ms. Weiss); Chyna Layne (Rhonda); Sherri Shepherd (Cornrows) and Lenny Kravitz (Nurse John.)