Precious

The initially devastating yet ultimately uplifting PRECIOUS is a solid dramatic piece with A+ performances across the board. At first, the audience may be unsure how to feel about the apparently stoic, blank expression on our title character's face, but once a few minutes have passed, they will feel more than sympathy for this victim of horribly tragic life circumstances (this is precisely the kind of movie that anyone who "thinks they have it bad" should watch as soon as possible). Similarly, we may be deceived by the film's initially dark tone and eventually discover that this is a particularly hopeful and inspirational motion picture.

Clareece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) physically goes to school and sits in the classroom, but her mind is elsewhere. She pictures herself going off on a romantic adventure with her attractive male teacher. The fact that she's severely overweight doesn't make it too easy for us to notice what the school principal figures out: Precious is pregnant with her second child. As we find out, the pregnancies haven't come as a result of Precious being sexually depraved, but because she's been raped by her own father. Life at home is hell for Precious. Her mother, Mary (Mo'Nique), isn't concerned about the fact that her daughter was raped; she's actually angry and jealous that her boyfriend preferred Precious over her: "Motherhood is about sacrifice - I should've aborted your motherfucking ass." It'd be too heart-wrenching to even start discussing the physical attacks that Mary exerts on her daughter.

Luckily for Precious, her school principal refers her to an alternative education program where she can hopefully get her GED: "I don't know what an alternative school is... but I like it", Precious says. She decides to partake in the program, which is led by the kind-hearted Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), who advises Precious to "push" herself so that she can learn to read and write. Soon, our title character starts communicating her feelings to her teacher through the journals they have to write for class. There's no doubt that there's hope for Precious to get ahead in life despite the fact that she has faced some of the roughest imaginable situations.

There's no arguing the superior quality that went into the directing and acting in this film. However, there is one aspect towards which it's easy to have mixed feelings. The film has two ways of conveying what is on our protagonist's mind. The first of these is the voiceover device, which works PERFECTLY and it's used at all the correct times. The other one is a series of scenes in which we see what Precious "wishes" were happening (like walking on the red carpet with people cheering for her). Unfortunately, this technique is overused and, even worse, it's often distracting. One of them features Precious and her mother speaking Italian to one another, and the moment just feels misplaced. Yes, this film is meant to be hopeful (as I said) but the amount of these dream sequences is excessive and too much of a distraction.

This film is a tour de force of acting. The unknown Gabourey Sidibe is relentlessly perfect: we witness the dire situation that Precious is in, and we can't wait for something to happen that makes Precious smile, and it's impossible not to smile with her when she does. If an Oscar nomination doesn't go Sidibe's way, the Academy has no shame. The most interesting thing about Mo'Nique's much-talked about performance (as what may be the most evil mother in cinema) is the fact that the true greatness of her acting doesn't come from the early, abusive scenes; it comes in the final 10 minutes, when everything that Mary has kept bottled inside for years finally comes out. In these last 10 minutes, Mo'Nique is simply staggering. She stutters and raises her voice at all the right times. We forget that she's acting. I don't mean to take away from what Sidibe accomplishes in the title role, but Mo'Nique is simply incredible. Actually, if these two ladies weren't such stand-outs, I'd even say that Paula Patton and Mariah Carey (who is virtually unrecognizable here) would deserve recognition because their performances are also pitch-perfect.

While there's no doubt that PRECIOUS is award-worthy in the acting department, I have doubts about whether it deserves anything beyond that. Now that the Best Picture category has been expanded to 10, chances are it'll get in, but when it comes down to it, as far as storytelling is concerned, PRECIOUS doesn't break new ground. Aside from the fantastic performances and the great voiceovers, this is a conventional "victimized underdog rises above the hardship" story, complete with the final moment in which the underdog is finally able to stand up to the abuser and walk away. However, it's still absolutely worth seeing for its emotional potency and message of hope.

6/10