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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 12/24/2009 : 16:13:43
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Precious
There's a scene quite near the end that takes place in a social services offices in which a near-unrecognizable Mariah Carey mediates between Mo'Nique and her teen-age mother-of-two daughter played by Gabourey Sidibe. If you can get through the whole of that scene and not even one tear has escaped, then either you have a blockage of the nasolacrimal duct or you are not human.
I see a lot of films, and this is one of the best. It should be required viewing for every politician and social policy maker and bean counter on our planet. You won't ever have seen anything like it.
As adapted by 1st time screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher from the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire, director Lee Daniels has crafted a powerful journey of emotional evolution without preaching or melodrama or anything less than true.
Daniels gently drives what is essentially a stream-of-consciousness account of a young woman's profoundly tortured life with wit and power and an almost unique understanding of the inner life of Precious.
We meet her aged 16 and barely able to construct a sentence. She lives in Harlem with a mother who's brutally emotionally disturbed. Precious takes the brunt.
Everything's going against her. She's grossly obese and carries the bargain basement lack of self worth achieved by a lifetime of being told what a loser she is. How she manages, with the care of a few strangers, to find out who she is and wear her new confidence with pride is the heart of the film.
Mo'Nique is amazing as Mary, the mother. I'm not sure anything in her stand-up or as a talk-show host prepare you for this mesmerizing performance. And in that tsunami of a scene I referred to, watch out! She's gonna wash right over you!
As for Gabourey Sidibe, the woman lives so naturally onscreen she drags you in with her. It is a remarkable performance. And, in case you were in any danger of thinking she's just being herself ... Daniels injects her into a stylish scene from the acclaimed de Sica film Two Women that proves she's not only an accomplished actress, but one who is definitely in the running for a Best Actress award.
Your life will be the poorer if you don't see this film.
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 12/24/2009 : 16:57:51
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PUSH: BASED ON THE NOVEL BY SAPPHIRE*** [U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, Special Jury Prize for Acting�Mo�Nique] By far the closest to a �typical Sundance film� of all we saw, and the achiever of an unprecedented [at least in our experience] feat: it won both the jury�s and the audience�s vote as best U.S. dramatic film. Precious, an obese New York high-schooler who has basically vanished inside the educational system, struggles with an horrific home life while she tries to learn to read to better herself. She is carrying her second child -- both of them by her father. Her mother is a foul-mouthed harridan who abases her every day. [Mo�Nique, who plays this part, won a well-deserved special jury prize for acting.] It�s a raw, searing study by Lee Daniels which feels perfectly authentic; my caveat is that I really wasn�t in the mood to have my face rubbed in grit, and I can�t be sure when I will be again, and I don�t think many others can either. One very fine performer in this superbly acted film looked familiar, but I couldn�t quite place her. The credits rolled by: Mariah Carey!
[This was my take from Sundance last January after one screening. Many things can change in a year, including a critical mass. But I stand by my initial take. Awards, maybe. Audience, nope.]
My complete Sundance 2009 report |
Edited by - randall on 12/24/2009 17:28:35 |
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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/16/2010 : 21:58:37
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Precious
I was a bit disappointed, as I had anticipated this film for a long time. I haven't read the novel, but have often read about it, and the film seems to retain some of its faults (relentlessly piling every possible ill onto Precious) while losing some of its advantages (Precious's intellectual and emotional awakening being revealed through her narration).
That said, one cannot help but immediately will Precious forwards, and all the performances are excellent. It was bold of (an I thought totally recognizable) Mariah Carey to take on such an unsympathetic character, albeit a broadly right-minded one.
4/5 |
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Precious
