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Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire
Ben Kenigsberg reviews Precious.
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.
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