Film

Above and beyond its bizarrely styled title—changed to avoid confusion with the Dakota Fanning action film Push—this Sundance winner is a tough sell even for those who like it. The movie is at once irritatingly glib and undeniably bold in its portrait of a late-’80s, illiterate Harlem teenager (Sidibe) with no obvious escape route. She’s pregnant with her second child by her father; her daughter was born with Down syndrome and is currently being raised by her abusive mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), who blames Precious for stealing her husband. Mary also sees Precious as a financial burden and—to humiliate her for her obesity—forces her to overeat.

Producer-turned-director Daniels (his only other feature is the reputedly nutso Shadowboxer) has a tendency to fetishize misery, shooting domestic brawls and child endangerment in a way that seems too arty for comfort. (The sequences representing Precious’s fantasies are particularly cringeworthy.) On the other hand, it’s rare to see such a convincing or poetic portrayal of life on the margins. Eventually, Precious emerges as an unsentimental pro-education film: Precious’s only way out is to attend a special-ed school, where she’s assisted by a patient teacher (Patton) and—outside the classroom—by a social worker (a surprisingly good Carey, who’d be unrecognizable if you didn’t know she was in the film). The movie strains to withhold judgment; even Mary gets a redemptive monologue. The bottom line is that you’ve never seen anything quite like this—in its highs, its lows, its gaffes, its embarrassments or its uplift.