With a week to go to the Oscars, you would have to be without eyes, ears, and maybe even taste buds to have not heard of Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. The movie has been heavily lauded by Oprah Winfrey (to her army of female consumers, or “audience” as she likes to call them), and has garnered many accolades from critics across the board.
On top of those reasons for the movie’s name to be stuck in your head, Precious has been nominated for six Academy Awards and was most recently recognized with a win by Mo’Nique for Best Supporting Actress at the British Academy Film Awards (basically, the British Oscars). That’s an awful lot of reasons to see this movie.
The story is a grim one, which focuses on the character of Clareece Precious Jones (played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) and her struggles with living in an abusive household. More than that, she and her mother live in poverty, she has a child with Down’s Syndrome, she was sexually abused by her father, and is currently pregnant again – all at the age of sixteen. When illiteracy holds Precious back in school, she gets sent to an alternative school which offers special attention to prepare her for the rigors of high school. The film is an account of her transformation from a quiet victim to a strong, responsible, proud woman.
This is a hard movie to watch. Certainly, the film is excellent, but the content is incredibly heavy and almost unrelenting in its darkness. As a device to help her cope with the horrors around her (as well as help the audience escape for a few moments), Precious frequently drifts into a vibrant fantasy world where she is the star and everyone loves her. This is almost a necessary reprieve, to give the audience a few seconds to give their psyches a rest from the constant down-note beatdowns. Despite the mental bruising, however, Precious is ultimately a story of hope – that a person can rise above the hand they’ve been dealt and excel despite adversity.
Strong performances by Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, and most surprisingly, Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey, make this a very powerful piece of cinema. Carey – almost unrecognizable – makes up for her Glitter embarrassment with this single performance. You’re forgiven, Mariah Carey, just don’t let it happen again.
The visual cues in this film are great, with a palette of browns and greys colouring Precious’ bleak reality contrasted by vibrant colours in her over-the-top fantasy world. In fact, one of the most refreshing things about Precious is that the real world remains, well, real. Even the actresses (most notably Mo’Nique and Carey) were transformed into ‘plainer’ versions of themselves to better suit their roles. You would think something like that would go without saying, but often times, attractive actresses remain attractive regardless of their role; it’s nice to see filmmakers taking a certain pride in realism to better serve the film
It’s hard to say what Precious’ chances come Oscar night are, but one thing’s for certain, you should definitely check out one of the best films of 2009.
