Powerful Performances, Hope Found in Precious
Some movies are made to entertain us; to do nothing more than make us laugh, feel good, or astonish us. Some movies are made to teach us something (most of these prefer a smack on the head over an encouraging nudge). And then there are those movies that are made purely about a way of life; for some people these are fairly relatable, but for others they are an insight into an experience they will never know. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is a movie that falls under the final category.
The film, in case you’ve been living in a hole since November, concerns a teenage African-American girl who is obese, not yet out of junior high, pregnant with her second child, and living in Harlem in the late 1980s. Oh, and her children are the result of an occasional raping by her father – which is, of course, no secret to her mom. Does the story sound depressing enough yet? Well, you’ll be happy to know that the first child has Down ’s syndrome. The main character, Claireece ‘Precious’ Jones, is also lucky enough to have the most vitriolic, apathetic mother in film history (played by Mo’Nique).
I went into Precious expecting something akin to the weight and sincerity of Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, with imagery that’s only half as horrifying as that film’s. On the other hand, when one looks at the film’s pedigree (that it’s executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry) one could expect the African American community’s equivalent of Crash, an overbearing message movie. I’m pleased to report that Precious falls into neither of these extremes. Instead of a film that is depressed and hopeless, it’s a film with hope, levity, and possibility. Instead of brushing with broad strokes and thin characters in order to hammer a point in your head like a railroad spike, Precious is full of living, breathing characters and doesn’t concern itself with a Message.
Sorry to say, Precious is not the depressing night at the movies some of you might’ve been hoping for or heard it was.
Yes, there is a wealth of grim, disturbing scenes wherein Precious’s mother, Mary, berates and beats her quiet, obedient slave of a daughter. And there is one rape scene (don’t worry; it doesn’t get as graphic as you might think). But our heroine’s life comes upon some happy moments when she secretly attends an alternative school after being expelled from her previous school for being pregnant. Her class only has about five other students, but they all eventually bring enjoyment to each other’s lives while improving their own individual situations through education. This may sound a little too pat, but it works well in this film and avoids the cliché of most urban school films. The reason: these scenes are within a social-realist film where every character avoids caricature and feels less like a character and more like a real person.
And there are some surprises in that regard. Let’s run down the list: Mariah Carey, star of 2001’s Razzie gem Glitter. She plays the welfare office worker that Precious is ordered to “get her ass” to see. This is no two-minute novelty cameo; Carey inhabits this pivotal role just as well as any faceless character actor and is almost reason enough to see this movie. Carey’s Mrs. Weiss needs to interview Precious about her home life in order to sign off the check Precious is assigned to get each week (or is it month? The movie never makes it clear). You can guess where that leads.
Paula Patton, who I’m not familiar with beforehand, plays Precious’s teacher with the unlikely name Blu Rain. This could’ve been the African American equivalent of Edward James Olmos’s Mr. Escalante from Stand and Deliver, which was about a real teacher. The fact that Patton doesn’t and becomes just as real – if not more so – is amazing. Ms. Rain realizes that not all of her students will succeed, but after Precious and Ms. Rain become privy to each other’s personal lives she pushes Precious to excel. There are a couple really moving moments between Ms. Rain and Precious that are well-earned and avoid after-school special schlock.
Mo’Nique has earned most of the buzz for her performance as Mary, mother of Precious. You wonder why Mary nicknamed her daughter ‘Precious’, because she treats her as something she regards in the lowest esteem. In fact, that is the effect Mary has on Precious, low self-esteem. Mary calls her fat, lazy, bitch, dummy – it gets a lot worse. This is the woman you hear yelling on the other side of your apartment wall, but rarely see. You rarely see her, because Mary seems to rely on welfare to pay for her busy schedule of watching TV, sleeping, smoking cigarettes, eating, and bossing around and berating Precious – all from her recliner. I’m pretty sure I only saw Mary in two scenes outside her poorly lit apartment. Mary is the kind of character whose actions you dread in almost every scene. She will go from benign foul-mouthing to being suddenly by your side, swinging a pan at your head. I won’t tell you the dread I felt each time a child was in this woman’s arms. Mo’Nique delved into some really dark and psychologically messed up places for this role, as the climactic monologue makes all too clear. It is incredible, because this isn’t a comic actor stretching her dramatic chops to show off. A performance this dimensional about its maliciousness is a lock for the Best Supporting Actress of 2009 for any awards ceremony.
Finally, we have Precious herself, played by Gabourey Sidibe. It’s impressive enough that this is the first time Sidibe has ever been in front of the camera, but that this is her first time acting ever is shocking. This movie works as well as it does because of this incredible debut performance. Precious is a large presence with a bit of her mom’s attitude, but thinks so little of herself that she wishes she were somebody else completely. She has fantasies about being a skinny, white starlet or living a much more glamorous lifestyle with “one of those BET music videos”, because her life of daily emotional and physical trauma tells her she’s worthless and unlovable. Sidibe doesn’t play this amateurishly; she’s as nuanced and poignant as any seasoned actress. She doesn’t overdo the broken talk, illiteracy, anger, deviousness, pain, yearning, or joy. No, she plays it all as if she is Precious and we’re watching a documentary of her life. This is the most astounding performance I saw by a female from 2009 and I can say sight unseen that it blows that sassy blonde Texan savior out of the competition for snagging an Oscar. In fact, the possibility of a white actress winning for a crowd-pleasing feel-good role over a debut as stunning as Precious by an African American is too offensive to consider.
It should be noted there are small momentary flaws in Precious that exist when one puts some thought into it (why wouldn’t someone take a dropped newborn immediately to a hospital?). But they in no way hurt the film or its overall effectiveness. And the film has a certain ambiguous quality as to what happens after Precious walks out of the welfare office in the end. I’ll avoid being specific so as to avoid spoiling what little can be spoiled about this film.
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is one of those films that will make your life’s hurdles seem insignificant by comparison. It is a film that gives us a peek at the lives of those we’re too comfortable with our PTAs, fast food, and warm holidays to pay any mind. Precious is someone that each of us has passed on the street and ignored or quietly mocked. And that is why many people staring at the Red Box, looking for a good movie for the weekend will overlook this film.
Push yourself to give this great addition to African American cinema – and truly one of its year’s best films - a look. At times, it will move you. At others, it may shock you… but it will also occasionally make you smile.
8/10
Should you see it? Rent
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire will be on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 9th.
CORRECTION: Bullock's character in The Blind Side is from Memphis, TN - not Texas. Apologies.
The film, in case you’ve been living in a hole since November, concerns a teenage African-American girl who is obese, not yet out of junior high, pregnant with her second child, and living in Harlem in the late 1980s. Oh, and her children are the result of an occasional raping by her father – which is, of course, no secret to her mom. Does the story sound depressing enough yet? Well, you’ll be happy to know that the first child has Down ’s syndrome. The main character, Claireece ‘Precious’ Jones, is also lucky enough to have the most vitriolic, apathetic mother in film history (played by Mo’Nique).
I went into Precious expecting something akin to the weight and sincerity of Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, with imagery that’s only half as horrifying as that film’s. On the other hand, when one looks at the film’s pedigree (that it’s executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry) one could expect the African American community’s equivalent of Crash, an overbearing message movie. I’m pleased to report that Precious falls into neither of these extremes. Instead of a film that is depressed and hopeless, it’s a film with hope, levity, and possibility. Instead of brushing with broad strokes and thin characters in order to hammer a point in your head like a railroad spike, Precious is full of living, breathing characters and doesn’t concern itself with a Message.
Sorry to say, Precious is not the depressing night at the movies some of you might’ve been hoping for or heard it was.
Yes, there is a wealth of grim, disturbing scenes wherein Precious’s mother, Mary, berates and beats her quiet, obedient slave of a daughter. And there is one rape scene (don’t worry; it doesn’t get as graphic as you might think). But our heroine’s life comes upon some happy moments when she secretly attends an alternative school after being expelled from her previous school for being pregnant. Her class only has about five other students, but they all eventually bring enjoyment to each other’s lives while improving their own individual situations through education. This may sound a little too pat, but it works well in this film and avoids the cliché of most urban school films. The reason: these scenes are within a social-realist film where every character avoids caricature and feels less like a character and more like a real person.
And there are some surprises in that regard. Let’s run down the list: Mariah Carey, star of 2001’s Razzie gem Glitter. She plays the welfare office worker that Precious is ordered to “get her ass” to see. This is no two-minute novelty cameo; Carey inhabits this pivotal role just as well as any faceless character actor and is almost reason enough to see this movie. Carey’s Mrs. Weiss needs to interview Precious about her home life in order to sign off the check Precious is assigned to get each week (or is it month? The movie never makes it clear). You can guess where that leads.
Paula Patton, who I’m not familiar with beforehand, plays Precious’s teacher with the unlikely name Blu Rain. This could’ve been the African American equivalent of Edward James Olmos’s Mr. Escalante from Stand and Deliver, which was about a real teacher. The fact that Patton doesn’t and becomes just as real – if not more so – is amazing. Ms. Rain realizes that not all of her students will succeed, but after Precious and Ms. Rain become privy to each other’s personal lives she pushes Precious to excel. There are a couple really moving moments between Ms. Rain and Precious that are well-earned and avoid after-school special schlock.
Mo’Nique has earned most of the buzz for her performance as Mary, mother of Precious. You wonder why Mary nicknamed her daughter ‘Precious’, because she treats her as something she regards in the lowest esteem. In fact, that is the effect Mary has on Precious, low self-esteem. Mary calls her fat, lazy, bitch, dummy – it gets a lot worse. This is the woman you hear yelling on the other side of your apartment wall, but rarely see. You rarely see her, because Mary seems to rely on welfare to pay for her busy schedule of watching TV, sleeping, smoking cigarettes, eating, and bossing around and berating Precious – all from her recliner. I’m pretty sure I only saw Mary in two scenes outside her poorly lit apartment. Mary is the kind of character whose actions you dread in almost every scene. She will go from benign foul-mouthing to being suddenly by your side, swinging a pan at your head. I won’t tell you the dread I felt each time a child was in this woman’s arms. Mo’Nique delved into some really dark and psychologically messed up places for this role, as the climactic monologue makes all too clear. It is incredible, because this isn’t a comic actor stretching her dramatic chops to show off. A performance this dimensional about its maliciousness is a lock for the Best Supporting Actress of 2009 for any awards ceremony.
Finally, we have Precious herself, played by Gabourey Sidibe. It’s impressive enough that this is the first time Sidibe has ever been in front of the camera, but that this is her first time acting ever is shocking. This movie works as well as it does because of this incredible debut performance. Precious is a large presence with a bit of her mom’s attitude, but thinks so little of herself that she wishes she were somebody else completely. She has fantasies about being a skinny, white starlet or living a much more glamorous lifestyle with “one of those BET music videos”, because her life of daily emotional and physical trauma tells her she’s worthless and unlovable. Sidibe doesn’t play this amateurishly; she’s as nuanced and poignant as any seasoned actress. She doesn’t overdo the broken talk, illiteracy, anger, deviousness, pain, yearning, or joy. No, she plays it all as if she is Precious and we’re watching a documentary of her life. This is the most astounding performance I saw by a female from 2009 and I can say sight unseen that it blows that sassy blonde Texan savior out of the competition for snagging an Oscar. In fact, the possibility of a white actress winning for a crowd-pleasing feel-good role over a debut as stunning as Precious by an African American is too offensive to consider.
It should be noted there are small momentary flaws in Precious that exist when one puts some thought into it (why wouldn’t someone take a dropped newborn immediately to a hospital?). But they in no way hurt the film or its overall effectiveness. And the film has a certain ambiguous quality as to what happens after Precious walks out of the welfare office in the end. I’ll avoid being specific so as to avoid spoiling what little can be spoiled about this film.
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is one of those films that will make your life’s hurdles seem insignificant by comparison. It is a film that gives us a peek at the lives of those we’re too comfortable with our PTAs, fast food, and warm holidays to pay any mind. Precious is someone that each of us has passed on the street and ignored or quietly mocked. And that is why many people staring at the Red Box, looking for a good movie for the weekend will overlook this film.
Push yourself to give this great addition to African American cinema – and truly one of its year’s best films - a look. At times, it will move you. At others, it may shock you… but it will also occasionally make you smile.
8/10
Should you see it? Rent
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire will be on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 9th.
CORRECTION: Bullock's character in The Blind Side is from Memphis, TN - not Texas. Apologies.