Precious – Not for Everyone

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Movies

Sunday, 13 December 2009 05:55

By Popcorn Junkie

I can usually count on my friend N to meet me at Deluxe after work for a movie. Depending on what’s showing, we might even make it a double-header. But when I invited her to watch Precious, she outright said no.

Those graphic previews that had convinced me the movie was worth watching had the entirely opposite effect on her. The critics were raving, some predicting Oscars, and she didn’t want to go.

Her reasoning was simple: she didn’t want to get angry. When I called her after the movie (I still went of course), I told her she was absolutely right. It was an excellent movie, but if she was trying not to get mad, she should stay far away.

To me, a movie is successful if it can reach out and grab you. Precious, based on the movie Push, by Sapphire, jumped out of the screen to deliver a slap, a kick, and some black-belt kung fu.

If I had to describe this movie in just one word, it would be - raw.  The previews don’t even prepare you for what’s coming. The storyline clenches its Sumo wrester-sized arms around you right until the end.

It could just have been another story about poor, ignorant Black folks abusing each other, and the system, but the characters reel you into their world and make you love and hate them.
There’s nothing funny about Mo’Nique, who does a stellar job of being unlovable, while Gabourey Sidibe, someone you might see on the street and feel instant disgust for, portrays a victim you can’t turn away from.


There’s a lot about this movie to admire, from a portrayal aspect, if you appreciate dramatic storytelling, or alternatively, a lot to disturb you as far as domestic abuse of all sorts.

My mouth fell open quite a few times, but to take it further, there were people sitting behind me handing out tissues. I haven’t seen that kind of reaction from a movie in a long time.

Claireece (Precious) Jones is 16, pregnant for the second time, and illiterate. As if that’s not enough drama for one movie, there’s a container-load more. When you think things are horrible, they get worse.

The one aspect I really didn’t like, as far as the movie making – I was chuptzing in my seat to be exact - was the depiction of the Jamaican character Rhonda. To me, it was insulting that the writers chose to stereotype Caribbean people as loud-mouthed, get down on the floor and dance types. I wasn’t laughing.

A performance that had me applauding, however, was Mariah Carey as Mrs Weiss, the social worker Precious tells her story to. I’ve become so used to seeing Mariah Carey showcased as a curvaceous bubblehead that I would never have recognized her in this new role. But she was convincing.

Speaking of alter egos, it was great to see “Gabby,” in her real persona, giggling and cracking jokes on late night TV this week. It helped to wash away some of the emotional residue this film left with me. If you're still feeling a little disturbed after the movie, look her up online on the Jay Leno show.

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