PRECIOUS Movie Review
PRECIOUS will be released to theaters today Friday November 6. The movie is starring Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz, Gabourey Sidibe and directed by Lee Daniels. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.
Time.com
Because the early screening of Precious came with a warning from the publicist to bring tissues, I fully expected to be a goner. Yet there I sat dry-eyed through all of Lee Daniels' screen adaptation of Sapphire's celebrated 1997 novel Push. The movie has the kind of authenticity and ugly immediacy that make the tears of a viewer sitting in the dark safety of a movie theater seem a little silly — indulgent even. Read More
Huffington Post
Part of the magic of movies is their ability to take you places you otherwise couldn't - or wouldn't - take yourself. From the fantasy realm of extraterrestrial adventures to the life-and-death setting of a battlefield, film can teach us about ourselves by allowing us to experience the lives of others. Read More
Wall Street Journal
Just a few weeks ago, "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire," looked to be this year’s requisite heartwarming movie story. The elements were all there: a difficult subject that made financing almost impossible (until a millionaire guardian angel stepped in!); an unknown star whose virtuoso performance is garnering Oscar buzz; celebrity backing by no less than Oprah Winfrey; lots of gushing stories in the mainstream media. Read More
RopeofSilicon.com
For almost 90-percent of it's runtime Precious is so bleak and downright desperate you wouldn't need to explain yourself if you told me you didn't want to see it. However, should you go against what your instincts are telling you, you will end up seeing an eternally hopeful film that is hands-down the best drama I have seen in 2009 so far. Read More
Precious Synopsis: Lee Daniels's PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome.
Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo'Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write.
Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn't know the meaning of "alternative," but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.
Precious is in theaters now. Watch the trailer below.
November 6, 2009 by Eric · Print This Article
Category: Movie Reviews
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I was really looking forward to this movie. And it so did not make it to our city. Im sure that i am not the only person that is disappointed in the 505. Please Please hoping that it will make it to our city. Spoke to alot of people and they are just as anxious as I am. Thank you.
I watched the movie last night and at the end was left with the feeling that even with all the good intentions what would come later for Precious and her children would be severe economic hardship. The remnants of welfare ended by Clinton in the eighties hurt all the Precious out there making the chances of a single obese, black illitare sixteen yr old with a down syndrome and an infant become almost nill. The other feeling I had is that abuse being so widespread and non discriminating was but a stroke of luck for Precious. Precious could mend herself for she knew at sixteen her abusers and had no issues cutting the umbilical chord to start anew. In other words because of the lack of education of her abusers they could not develop sophisticated methods to make her crazy. The reality of many abused victims is that the crazymaking prevents them from escaping an abusive situation and you find them in horrific situations twenty thirty and forty years later. The film is very real so if fantasy is your thing don't bother to watch it.
I worked in a place called Benton Harbor, Michigan for 20 years and saw "Precious" all the time. Unfortunately, aside from the abstract feeling of how bad and wrong these situations can be, the sad fact is that the black community doesn't care.
You have a nice new car - your neighbor will steal your rims. While you're out buying a Christmas tree - somebody from down the block will be stealing you VCR and TV. You're in high school and like a guy - have his baby. I asked a black girl about this one time and she told me that they had no sense of community- it was everyone for themselves.
You have a baby at 14 - your church will help you get food and diapers. But there is NEVER a word about how perhaps this might not be the thing to do. And, of course, now you have to drop out of school to take care of the baby. Unfortunately in the black communities of our country this is a never-ending vicious circle.
Precious will DEFINITELY be in a theater close to everyone soon! this is a great site: http://www.preciousinmycity.com -shows all the cities/theaters its playing in next weekend. If your city's not there keep checking back, they add locations all the time..