Monday, November 23, 2009

A Review of Precious

Holy Jesus!!! This has to be the most jaw dropping movie I have ever seen for all the wrong reasons. You all may not know me, yet, but I have see a lot of movies. I am a card carrying TCM and cable movie channel watcher. I do actually leave my house on occasion to see the Oscar worthy and outstanding special effects film.
I'd like to begin with the writing in this film. It is so beautifully prurient and disgusting to see what is before you and to hear the strong dialogue. There are moments you actually can’t believe you are listening to a human being. It’s more like listening to a caged rabid animal that you find in a house but has the capacity to speak the English language. Yet when it opens its mouth the vilest and putrid words fall forth.
I was completely mesmerized by this film. The writing and the acting is outstanding. The movie is based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. Unfortunately I’ve never read this work and I probably would not have finished it. The woman selected to star in the film Gabourey Sidibe, plays the lead role. She is outstanding as the daughter who is subjected to repeated abuse, verbal and sexual not only by her father, but her mother who is divinely played by Mo’Nique. The daily verbal abuse set on this poor child was almost unbearable to this watcher, my mouth was consistently open and set at jaw against chest...
The story is set in a Harlem project where Precious lives with her mom. She is literally a slave in the home, and a sex slave to her father’s whims. However, we enter the story after her father has yet again abused her and she finds out that she is pregnant, again. She’s already had a baby that is mentally challenged and lives with the grandmother until the social worker needs to pay a visit. Her H.S. teacher is concerned about her behavior and Precious spills the beans about her condition. The counselor suggests that she stay in school but attend a charter school in another neighborhood. From that moment we begin to see the slow pace of change in the life of this character. After she starts the new school her world starts to change, but only in minute increments. Change here is slow. Change is determined and filled with setbacks, but moving forward constantly. From here we start to hope for a savior, her survival, and we keep hoping. Because she is young, we enjoy the segments where she is able to fantasize about what her life can be, though she is constantly interrupted by reality. I’ll leave it at that. There are some laughs here and some poignant moments, but for the most part we are sharing real, hard life moments, that shouldn’t happen to anyone, ever.
Directed by Lee Daniels; written by Geoffrey Fletcher, based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire; director of photography, Andrew Dunn; edited by Joe Klotz; music by Mario Grigorov; production designer, Roshelle Berliner; produced by Mr. Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness; released by Lionsgate. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes.
WITH: Mo’Nique (Mary), Paula Patton (Ms. Rain), Maria Carey (Ms. Weiss), Sherri Shepherd (Cornrows), Lenny Kravitz (Nurse John), Kimberly Russell (Katherine) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious).

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