Precious: From the Novel; ‘Push’ by Sapphire (2009)
Precious(2009) Directed by Lee Daniels Written by Geoffrey Fletcher Starring Gabourney Sidibe; Mo’Nique; Mariah Carey; Paula Patton; Lenny Kravitz;
Whether the sheer volume of occurence and/or the graphic extent of the vividly depicted ugliness on display separates Precious from any number of well-done Lifetime movies is open to debate. The acting is excellent though, and the script is mostly devoid of the painful exposition that often besets TV movies. However, the unrelenting accumulation of melodramatic moments does place a severe strain on this story about a sixteen year old African American woman from Harlem whose life is seemingly composed of a series of tragic events and ongoing daily abuse.
Newcomer Gabby Sidibe, in her first role, was plucked from obscurity to embody the titular character Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones, and though the mostly deadened affect and monosyllabic nature of the battered, inarticulate, illiterate and physically obese teen allows her to avoid both major chunks of dialogue and, for the most part, scenes of major emotional nuance, the performance is a good one. Fifty year old second time director Lee Daniels elicits a number of other solid turns as well, most noticably the Academy Award winning one by Mo’Nique (who was in Daniels first film, Shadowboxer), as the vile, despicable Mommie Dearest, Mary.
Included among the main supporting players are some creative casting choices - namely, musician Lenny Kravitz as Nurse John, and singer Mariah Carey (sans make-up, but with some upper-lip hair) as Ms. Weiss. New York native Carey is surprisingly naturalistic, a fact that might come as a shock to those who may have been subjected to her work in Glitter. Paula Patton (also doing the no make-up thing to hide her beauty) is also reasonably effective as Ms. Blu Rain, a lesbian teacher in the alternative program Precious winds up attending. Singer Corrinne Bailey Rae even shows up as Ms. Rain’s girlfriend. Can one note a theme here?
Several questions automatically arise in the viewing, not the least of which being is this mere exploitation dressed up as cinema? Certainly, if nothing else, all involved might be accused of more than a bit of piling on. While there can be little doubt that there is something to be said for the bravery involved in basing a film on an overweight, nearly silent African American female character; and while it is probably true that in the process tribute is being paid to those who suffer at the hands of their abusers by forcing the audience to endure some semblance of discomfort viewing human beings sadistically torturing another, it might also have been prudent to have toned down the myriad tragedies that befall our lead, if only for the sake of the limited time alotted to a mainstream, theatrically released feature film. The bludgeoning that occurs within a relatively narrow window leads an audience member feeling they’ve undergone their own personal beating.
The fantasy sequences perhaps do well evoking the inner life of a young person who naturally refuses to accept her own unspeakably horrific reality, though they also concurrently work to interrupt the thread of dramatic tension and momentum which otherwise builds through the heart of the baseline scenes. On the whole, the film might have done better leaving Precious’ dream-life on the cutting room floor, along with some of the other devices employed by Daniels to further the ends of consistently upping the melodramatic ante.
The classroom scenes smack of the same kind of stuff we have seen too many times before, a far cry from the realism demonstrated in a recent offering like the French film The Class. The students here feel very much like stock creations, and the teacher character, Ms. Rain, is perhaps a little too good to be true. There are undoubtedly some powerful moments and one rousing performance (by Mo’Nique), though Preciousis at its best when it sticks to the simple, day to day moments in the life of this unfortunate young soul. It is a memorable story, but one that may have dobe better with a less adorned, overstuffed final product.