Rating out of 5: * * * * *
Verdict: An emotionally exhausting, brilliantly acted, riveting film.
Precious has clocked up an impressive list of award nominations and wins over the past year. It's easy to see why.
With some unusual but inspired casting choices, director Lee Daniels has created a devastatingly raw and moving film that's more heartbreaking than it is heartwarming - a grim, harrowing and dark social commentary on illiteracy, incest and abuse set in Harlem in the 80s. But thanks to the resilience of its young protagonist Claireece Precious Jones (Sidibe) there's a sliver of hope here, too.
Sixteen-year-old Claireece is known by her middle name Precious, which is ironic considering there are few people in her life who treat her as anything like precious. Her angry mother Mary (Mo'Nique) verbally and emotionally abuses her, treats her like a slave, and holds her responsible for how her own horrid life has turned out.
Precious is obese, illiterate, and has switched off from the world around her: not that anyone would notice, she is largely ignored unless someone is bullying her. When she is suspended from school for being pregnant with her second child (she had her first at 12), her mother tells her to get to the welfare office, but Precious decides to try the alternative school her old Principal has organised for her to attend.
Precious knows this may be the break she has been looking for, an opportunity that may lead her towards becoming independent, able to take responsibility for her children, and to be free of her mother and rapist father who is responsible for Precious' two pregnancies.
At the school, Each One/Teach One, Precious meets other girls, all with dubious pasts and trying to make changes in their lives, and slowly she begins to re-connect with people, thanks to the help of her strict yet encouraging teacher Ms Rain (Paula Patton).
The film is based on the novel Push by author and performance poet Sapphire, who was inspired to write the novel based on her own experience teaching literacy classes.
Adapted for the screen by writer Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious is clearly a tearjerker, but breaking up the blunt and harsh script are fantasy scenes and a humorous narration which serve as some relief to the relentless gloom.
This is Sidibe's debut and she is utterly convincing in her portrayal of the quietly determined character. Her performance is so genuine you hardly notice her acting, something heightened by the fact Lee has chosen a handheld documentary style of shooting.
But the riskiest decision Lee makes is in casting Mariah Carey as social worker Mrs Weiss. It's only fair to say that she does an impressive job, leaving you wishing she was on screen for longer than her short role requires. Makeup free, frumpy and almost unrecognisable, it seems Mimi has just resurrected her acting career.
Cast: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey
Director: Lee Daniels
Running time: 109 mins
Rating: R16 (Violence, Sexual Violence, Offensive Language & Content That May Disturb)
