Thursday, March 25, 2010

PRECIOUS



Directed by: Lee Daniels
Run time: 109 min

Overweight, child out of wedlock, incest. Whoa, that is more than enough to make you depressed. However Precious is not an outstanding movie at all but not bad at all, in fact I think it stands in between, it is actually interesting and not boring. It feels as depressing as Revolutionary Road but also entertaining. What is the word for that anyway? It is the feeling of sympathy mixed with entertainment.

Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) has inferiority complex, she is overweight, illiterate, her father raped her twice and she has been pregnant (again) by his father. To makes things worse, her mother is very abusive, hurling not only verbal assault to her, but physical as well. In this cruel world, Precious must fight so she can be precious again.

In the hand of a generic director this film will be the generic kitchen sink drama where viewers will cry at given cues. But this film stand beyond that, it will not make you cry wildly nor sobbing, but it will make you sympathize with the plight of the poor and abused person.

If there are things that redeem the landscape of despair this film offers, is the two women who want life to be better for Precious. They are Mrs. Weiss (Mariah Carey) the social worker and Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), her teacher who consistently wanted to make the life of their students better.

Gabourey is shining in this film and Mariah Carey is just stunning, you hardly recognize her here. Mo'Nique is also shining, playing the abusive chain smoker mother, she deserved the Oscar.

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