Clarice “Precious” Jones is an African American teenage girl living in abject poverty in Harlem in 1987. She is the victim of emotional and physical abuse from her mother and sexual abuse from her father. Precious is pregnant with her second child, both the result of her father raping her. The first kid has down syndrome. Oh yeah, and Precious is both morbidly obese and illiterate. This is all without going into the other obstacles that I can’t give away without spoiling the movie. But, if the high-profile endorsement of this film by Oprah didn’t tip you off, get ready for Precious to find the inner strength to move beyond victimhood. Precious strives to be capital I Important, but its mixture of for colored girls anger with the melodramatic plot conventions and character depth of a Lifetime movie make for an awkward mix, one that not even its strong performances can overcome.
So, let’s start with the good. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe is a real find, finding a balance between Precious’ gritty, sullen exterior and her rich, expressive inner life. Mo’Nique, playing Precious’ mother, turns in a fiery, fearless performance and nails that monologue at the end that everyone has been talking about.
But the film’s grotesqueries quickly get out of hand. Mo’Nique’s character is such a monstrous, evil person that by the time she throws a television set at her daughter and two-day-old grandchild, its clear that we’ve left the realm of real life. The script (adapted straight from the controversial novel by Sapphire) piles humiliation on top of morbid humiliation until they lose all their impact. The movie seems content to wallow in tragedy, as if that alone is the larger point. The movie is set in 1987 and it feels much more like the product of the 1980s political and social conversation than today’s. And most of the emotional beats feel manipulative and unearned and, as the film lurches towards its climax, it starts to hit more and more forced, sour notes. One moment towards the end, where Precious’ inspirational teacher tearfully instructs her to “write! Write!” felt especially forced and unsatisfying.
It doesn’t help that Lee Daniels, working on his second film, throws out just about every stylistic device he can think of. By the ninth time the camera whooshes through a classroom and over Precious or the fifth music video dream sequence, I was totally exhausted. Daniels has style a plenty, but its meaningless without the control to know how to use it. The film’s visual look never really meshes together and is far too busy, further dulling the movie’s impact.
Ultimately, if you take Slumdog Millionaire and substitute melodrama for magical realism then you get a good approximation of the movie you’re seeing. Precious, despite its mountain of hardship, is a movie aiming for the rafters. I have no doubt lots of people will love this movie, and it seems destined for Oscar glory. But Precious is far too manipulative and too shallow to actually work.
Jonah’s Score: 48
Tangled Up In Wires Grade: C
Michael
ulyssesworkman
awarshauer
