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PRECIOUS
(***½)
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Movie Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
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Directed by:
Lee Daniels |
Written by:
Geoffrey Fletcher |
Starring:
Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey |
Running time:
109 minutes
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Released:
11/06/09 |
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Rated R
for child abuse including
sexual assault, and pervasive language. |
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"...manages to bring a beloved classic to the screen-in ways that are both
enormously engaging and strikingly powerful."
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Tyler Perrys' Medea character, has been a depressing
downward spiral in African- American film- making , reducing important social
topics to countrified nonsense, often chased with a heavy dollop of misguided
religious justification. Though “presented” by Tyler Perry (and Oprah Winfrey),
“Precious” restores some much needed horror to abuse of all kinds, lending
weight to self-esteem issues instead of playing them off as melodramatic
screen-writing requirements. This is a lacerating tale of desperation and
evolution, and while director Lee Daniels should do himself a favor and muzzle
most of his visual instincts, he permits the material to lead the charge,
creating a harrowing environment that makes for a hypnotic sit.
The year is 1987, and Precious (newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) is a morbidly obese,
illiterate 16-year-old girl suffering abuse at the hands of her violent mother,
Mary (Mo’Nique), and expecting her second child, impregnated by her own father.
Kicked out of school, Precious is sent to the “Each One Teach One” GED education
center, where she meets sympathetic teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton). Trying to
survive her daily punishments and humiliations, Precious starts to put her life
in order through her educational efforts, engaging slowly but surely with
counselor Ms. Weiss (Mariah Carey, nearly unrecognizable in a true career
turnaround performance), who attempts to adjust the young lady’s sense of
self-worth. Emboldened by her accomplishments and newfound friends, Precious
realizes she isn’t free from her mother’s wrath, with even more severe turns of
fate waiting around the corner to smash her confidence to pieces.
There’s a special low-to-the-ground quality to “Precious” that pulled me into
the story almost completely. Narrated by the title character in a thick-tongued,
stream-of-consciousness ramble, mumbling her every thought as though the
audience should not be allowed to hear her hopes and dreams, “Precious” feels
properly intimate. It’s almost voyeuristic in a way. The screenplay by Geoffrey
Fletcher seeks to provide a balance between the character’s horrific reality and
the shelter of her mind, where dreams of red-carpet stardom and the romantic
attention of cute boys whisks Precious away from the cruelty that’s toughened
her exterior and sent her heart into a coma. The film preserves its literary
foundation by capturing Precious’s conflicted core, performed with stupendous
clotted discomfort by Sidibe, whose fearlessness in appearance and emotional
availability gives Daniels a miraculous canvas to work with.
With such throbbing swells of misery portioned throughout the film, it’s a
miracle Daniels never accepts a less aggressive route of misery for his heroine.
The option is there, but Daniels (last seen with the eye-rollingly bizarre 2006
thriller, “Shadowboxer”) ducks temptation, preferring to tackle Precious’s
grueling world with authentic malice and irritation, showing equal parts love
and frustration for the character. Daniels takes an unfortunate off-ramp with
his visual style, which arrives as clichéd as can be, using zooms and fractured
editing to artificially breathe for the story. The effort is distracting and
entirely worthless when the cast is harmonizing superbly. Even Mo’Nique, not
normally known for her graceful screen presence, contributes volatile work as
the demonic mother, cursed with feelings of irrational jealousy that have made
her daughter the enemy. She’s pure malice, and a nice contrast to the work of
Paula Patton, who steals the film as the exhausted, supportive beacon of hope
for Precious, refusing to accept her excuses, nudging the terrified girl into
literacy and communication.
“Precious” is more concerned with the first steps of empowerment, not an overall
cure, leaving more of a lasting impression than outright closure allows. The
story of Precious hits several staggering low points, but the humanity is never
far from view, and while uncomfortable to process at times, the film retains an
impressive dramatic grip through unimaginable horror. Tyler Perry could learn a
thing or two from this approach. Daniels and Fletcher give Mo'Nique a deeply
felt monologue, one that summarizes both their ambitions for "Precious" (i.e., a
film about more than African-American poverty and victimhood) and gives Mo'Nique
the chance to show her range as Mary flits from one emotion to another, from one
ill-judged justification to another, until finally, exhausted, she shrinks in
defeat. It’s also to Daniels credit that he ends "Precious" realistically, his
heroine more self-aware, but still facing potentially insurmountable challenges. |
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PRECIOUS ©
2009 Lionsgate Films
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2009 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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