Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paul Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz, Stephanie Andujar
Directed by: Lee Daniels
Certificate: 15
Runtime: 110 minutes
UK release date: 22 January 2010:
In a nutshell: Harrowing, disturbing, oddly uplifting: forget 2010, this is one of the decade’s best films.
There has been talk of late that Precious might miss out on Oscars. The reason? Director Lee Daniels isn't schmoozing the media, he's not doing all that pre-ceremony political stuff. If that's genuinely the case, it's time the Academy Awards were scrapped and written off as an antiquated old boys' network.
Mind you, quite how you can choose between an Avatar - which makes the fantastic real - or Precious - which is just real (and fantastic for that matter) - is a tricky one. Avatar certainly pushed the envelope and changed cinema forever. Precious goes the other way, reminding the audience just what is possible when you strip away the shiny bits and deliver an incredible, moving story via some of the best acting of the last decade.
The film is dedicated to "precious girls everywhere", a statement that, initially, won't mean much to the average viewer. By the time the tale has unfolded, however, the idea that this sort of thing can happen and, indeed, is happening is devastating. The likes of Avatar may change the way you see film: Precious will change the way you see life.
Claireece "Precious" Jones (newcomer Sidibe) is an obese 16-year old mother, facing expulsion as she's pregnant. Again. Having been raped by her father. Again. Instead of providing support, her mother Mary (Mo'Nique) is angry, violent and resentful, blaming Precious for making her husband leave. "You think you better than me," she asks, between further beatings, "because he gave you more children than me?"
As it happens, the expulsion from regular high school is a blessing in disguise. Precious ends up at an alternative school called Each One / Teach One, where a literacy teacher Blu Rain (Patton), perhaps the first authority figure to show Precious any degree of compassion, slowly turns this troubled teen from social work statistic to real person.
That's not to say that Precious, the film, is a rose-tinted tale of redemption and the liberating power of education. There's nothing trite or simplistic about this harrowing film, just a deeply disturbing, genuinely moving story of betrayal and, ultimately, hope. For all the inspiration that Ms Rain can provide, Precious is still a pregnant single mother, still a rape victim, and still suffering at the hands of an abusive mother. There is, as social worker Miss Weiss (Carey, virtually unrecognisable) is all too aware, no quick fix.
In short, this is an incredible piece of work, a film that will haunt you for hours, days, and weeks afterwards. Sidibe delivers an incredible performance as Precious, rounding out and breathing real life into what could so easily have been a caricature. The same goes doubly for Mo'Nique: she's monstrous, pure evil in human form, and could have been a pantomime villain. But she's not. She's real and, when she finally breaks down over her husband's behaviour - but still with a resentful edge - it's heartstopping. You'll hate her (and more than you can possibly imagine) but you'll also feel every ounce of her pain.
It's already been a good year for five star films. The unforgettable, life and attitude changing Precious is the best of the lot.
