I was watching a clip from the Ellen Degeneres Show in which she is interviewing Gabourey Sadibe, the actress who portrays “Precious” in the movie. Ellen kept saying “it’s so sad”… “the topic is so depressing…” and all I kept thinking to myself was: “Stop saying that! This movie is not depressing!” “Precious” is not a depressing movie because the character is not a tragic figure. She is a survivor. She is like many people I know who have a fucked up home life – she just keeps it real: “It is what it is.”
At first glance, Clarice Precious Jones is a hot mess. She is obese, pregnant with her second child (raped by her mother’s lover twice) Her mama is crazy as hell and abuses her daily. Precious has what appears to be very little self esteem – she doesn’t speak in class. However, we learn later (from her narration throughout the film) that she is a fighter and a good girl. She is quick to slap any fool who would diss her and she has an aptitude in math, she makes good grades. People see the light in Precious and want to help her.
It is this support outside of her home that brings the inner Precious to the forefront. Precious has dreams that are shown in several fantasy sequences. They are sweet – unsophisticated – adolescent dreams but they make us feel for her. I hated the trailers that ran for this movie because they never showed the humor nor the triumphs that occurred. You can see some great trailers on the website: Precious Movie site
We see the world through Precious’ eyes. She narrates the film and we realize that she has great inner strength. Precious tells us (through voice over) about a day when she felt so badly that she wanted to kill herself. But the next day she feels better. “Fuck that day!” is what she says about the suicidal day.
Precious takes a licking and keeps on ticking. She gains friends and mentors who want to help and protect her but ultimately, we see that Precious is gonna be all right because she wants to be all right. In the end we leave the theater assured that she will be okay.
Mo’Nique kicks serious ass in this film. Her last monologue had me saying: “Go girl go!” to her acting. (Note: there was no one sitting within ear shot.) Mariah Carey was wonderful as a battle weary and wise social worker. And Lenny Kravitz was hot as hell in this flick!!
Go see “Precious.” It is a wonderful movie.
I just interviewed Erica Watson, who has a brief role in Precious (Go see her one woman show Fat Bitch!) and I was struck by the focus on survival. I can’t take brutally violent films and I’m familiar with Saphire’s book so I was going to pass on seeing this but you and everybody else has raved about Precious and the lead actor looks so luminous, I will check it out.
Yeah, they left a lot of it out. It is alluded to and it is shown in quick impressions – flashback – and I am grateful for that. I was gonna avoid it for the same reason…
Tell me more about “fat Bitch”