Precious - Overrated, but Still Powerful

Lee Daniels' new film "Precious" which is based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire came right at us while riding a high wave of enthusiastic praise ever since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie however comes close to overwhelming us with all the positive reviews, and the structure of it is not all that different from your typical movie of the week on Lifetime or TNT. Still, "Precious" really does deserve its praise despite some shortcomings thanks in large part to some tremendous performances and presenting a reality that does not feel at all artificial. There are other movies like this that I feel are far more powerful, but I can't and will not deny the elements of "Precious" which really work to its advantage.

The movie follows the at times horrific plight of Claireece Precious Jones, and she is played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe who gives a truly fantastic performance here. Claireece basically goes by her middle name of Precious, and she leads a life that can never be mistaken as an enviable one. She is teased by the kids at junior high school because of her visible obesity problem, and her home life is even worse as she is physically and emotionally demeaned by her mother, Mary Lee Johnston. Precious is to her mother what Whoopi Goldberg's character in "The Color Purple" was to Danny Glover's; she is her slave who cooks her meals, gets her drinks, and buys her cigarettes while she spend her days living off of welfare and robbing the system blind. It gets even worse from there as we quickly discover that Precious' father has been raping her on a regular basis, and now she is pregnant with his second child. The only time we see the first one is when Precious' mother Mary Lee puts on her whole act of what a wonderful person she is with the clueless social worker who visits every month.

Precious ends up getting kicked out of her junior high school and is transferred to an alternative school where those who know her hope will give her a new direction in life. Throughout her troubled times, she lets her imagination take her to a more happy and peaceful place where she is attending a movie premiere and dressed in a most exquisite red gown. She dreams of ending up on a magazine cover and of doing a great music video for BET, and of getting a most hot looking boyfriend who worships her every move. But the ugliness of her reality keeps crashing back down on her and constantly dampens whatever spirits she has left. This alternative school however could turn out to be the gateway to a better life, and it may give her the direction that she has been lacking for the longest time.

From the description I just gave, this sounds like your average story of a person defying the odds and of peoples' low expectations to rise above the negativity that they threaten to suffocate under. What "Precious" really has going for it is that the world it surrounds its main character and those around her actually feels authentic to real life. It's not populated by a bunch of cutesy kids whom you would never believe could be stuck in such an urban environment. The movie takes place in Harlem, New York, and the characters that surround Precious at her alternative school all come from different backgrounds. Seeing a Jamaican, a Latino, and other ethnicities in the same room is a reminder of what we should very well know already: New York is an amazingly diverse state with a wealth of people to discover. Everyone in this movie (even the big name stars) feel like they belong in this urban environment, and no one ever looks or feels out of place.

The teacher at the alternative school, Ms. Blu Rain, is played by Paula Patton who you might remember from "Hitch" or "Déjà vu." I don't remember her from those movies, but that may have to do with the fact that I haven't seen them yet. Anyway, Paula is great here as the driving force behind getting Precious the education she deserves. Ms. Rain gets her to read and write, and in the process gives Precious a way to express herself to the world instead of remaining the introverted kind. This leads to class discovering the damage done to her, and Blu gives her the love and respect her mother should have given her from the start. Paula makes you feel Ms. Rain's strong love for teaching and you fully believe the dedication she has for these kids as well as Precious. This could have been your standard clichéd teacher role, but Paula never lets it become that.

As I said earlier, there are some superstar celebrities to be found here. They could have been horrendously annoying and could have just completely have taken you out of the movie, but each of these well known people (who are consistently pestered by the damn paparazzi might I add) sinks right into their role leaving no trace of the massive success they have achieved as musicians. Lenny Kravitz is close to being unrecognizable as Nurse John McFadden, and yes, he's a male nurse so just get over it. As the male nurse, Lenny does what any good doctor should do which is encourage Precious and her friends to STOP EATING AT MCDONALDS!!!!! Lenny is fun to watch here, and he never tries to show off as he gives the character an authenticity in the help he gives the patients. I could have done without those male nurse jokes though. We already saw Ben Stiller go through the same crap with Robert DeNiro when they were in "Meet The Parents."

But the performance that really surprised me in "Precious" was the one from Mariah Carey who plays Miss Weiss, a social worker who interviews Precious. Everyone was right, Mariah completely deglams herself for this role to where she still looks quite nice and yet almost unrecognizable. None of the baggage she brings to this film takes away from it in the slightest. You can even see a little mustache forming on Carey's lips in one close up. How about that? She didn't even bother with the peach fuzz! Mariah Carey started this past decade off with the embarrassment known as "Glitter" which should all have destroyed any film career she hoped for. Now she ends the decade proving that her acting does deserve a second look. Let's hope she keeps it up.

The best we save for last as we talk about the powerhouse performance given by Mo'Nique as Precious' mother Mary Lee Johnston. In the past, I have found her to be an annoying presence be it if she emcees the Apollo Theater Amateur Night on Saturdays, or in just about any other movie she does like "Soul Plane" (a movie that didn't do anyone any good). But nothing will prepare you for how much she embodies this wholly unsympathetic character that is an insult to those who really need welfare assistance. What sounds like a one-dimensional role of a tyrant, Mo'Nique gives a certain dimension in moments like when she holds her newborn grandson before hurling any object she can get her hands on at her defenseless daughter.

One of Mo'Nique's strongest moments comes towards the last half where we finally see how all this abuse started being hurled on Precious, and she almost makes you feel sorry for her. Keep in mind, I am strongly stressing the word almost. In this moment, she manages to portray a vast range of emotions from sadness to anger and then to helplessness. While she may see herself as the real victim in all that has gone on in her small apartment, she still has yet to accept the unforgivable role she has played in all of it. You empathize with her, but you hate her even more for not doing what she should have done which was to love and protect her daughter.

Director Lee Daniels' does great work getting the performances he does from the entire cast, and he does what he can to keep this from becoming your typical Lifetime made for TV movie. Still, "Precious" does have a strong whiff of formula running through it, and I came out of feeling like it ended a little too soon. The resolution of Precious living in a halfway house and raising her two kids did not strike me as totally realistic. I wanted to get more of a feeling of Precious' triumph, but I felt denied of that.

This is a movie I can't help but be back and forth on. In the end though, there is a lot to admire about "Precious" that makes it impossible for me to no recommend. It will certainly be an inspiring story for many, and not just because Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are doing their best to strongly promote it. Maybe all the hype took away from it for me. Well, it is a strongly made movie all the same with a lot of heart, and that's more than a lot of movies I have seen in 2009. I shouldn't be complaining all that much when we have "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" as one of the biggest box office hits of the year. Studios are more willing to back a movie like that than something like this.

***½ out of ****