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Bookmark this pagePrecious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Director: Lee Daniels
Synopsis
Sundance-winning drama about the trails of an obese black teenager
Movie review
From Time Out Online
Harlem, the late ’80s: Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones is 16, terribly overweight, illiterate, frequently bullied and already pregnant for a second time – by her own father. Only when she’s sent (against her mother’s wishes) to an alternative school and begins to express her anger and pain does life begin to seem a little less hellish. It’s hard to be unaffected by this familiar story of horrendous abuse, though a certain slickness and literalism in scripting, camerawork and cutting threaten to turn the film into a kind of Sundance variation on the ‘sickness movie of the week’ genre. But the performances somehow make it work: not just Sidibe as Precious, but Mo’Nique as her mother, who in one scene towards the end single handedly takes the movie into far more rewardingly complex territory.Author: Geoff Andrew
Time Out Online London Film Festival 2009
User reviews of this film
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- James Guilford said...
- Posted on Nov 05 2009 14:05 After seeing an advance screening of Daniels' "Precious" two weeks ago, I am still moved. By far, the most outstanding performance is Mo’Nique as Mary, Precious’ mother. From her utterance of her first insult to Precious, the audience knows that comedian Mo’Nique has been inhabited by a actress of Meryl Streep caliber. Monique’s delivery of Mary is so thoroughly convincing that it is an injustice to call her execution a performance. I'd warn viewer that the movie is difficult to finish. On several occasions, I considered walking out. The cinematic tragedy of Precious' life both beautiful and suffocating. - James Guilford
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- Andree said...
- Posted on Oct 26 2009 15:52 So the film on it's London dedut. It was really a thought provoking production. Perhaps causing someof us to realise how fortunate we actually are. Awful topics covered, but the film was definately worth seeing.
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Now showing
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Cast & crew
Director: Lee Daniels
Cast: Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Gabourey Sidibe
Genre(s): Drama
Duration: 109 mins
US Release: Nov 6 2009
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