Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

While it may not be perfect on a technical level, dramatically it’s a blow-your-socks-off triumph. Be moved. Very, very moved.

This drama about an obese, illiterate black teen in Harlem practically guarantees some emotional uplift. But when it arrives, eventually, its authority is unimpeachable, so deeply has director Lee Daniels (Monster's Ball) immersed us in the depths of human ugliness.

Nimble and self-assured as Mr. Daniels’s direction may be, he could not make you believe in “Precious” unless you were able to believe in Precious herself. You will.

It melodramatizes everything and yet its overall effect is something more than melodrama.

Precious is a bit like having a piano dropped on your head: messy but memorable.

Yet even when the movie is at its most schizoid, Precious still packs a wallop.

What we have here is a fouled-up fairy tale of oppression and empowerment, and it’s hard not to be ensnared by its mixture of rank maleficence and easy reverie. The gap between being genuinely stirred and having your arm twisted, however, is narrower than we care to admit.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It is difficult to remain indifferent to a film like this, where the topics covered are so harsh, and we see someone leading such a difficult life without being guilty of it. Deeply intense, it is a film that thrills us, too, for the way the characters are worked, in terms of their psychology and feelings. The script, brilliantly written, is based on an autobiographical book and tells the story of a young woman, of humble origins and few studies, who was abused by her father and had children with him. The film tells how she clung to an alternative school and the opportunity to learn to get rid of a terrible and destructive life. Although the value of the prizes is always very relative and sometimes unfair, it is worth mentioning that the film won two Oscars (Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay) and was nominated for four more statuettes (Best Editing, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Film). Lee Daniels' direction was able to give a coherent, intelligent and skillful development, both to the story and to the characters, gradually revealing their internal motivations, feelings and dramas. Several figures pass through the life of the young protagonist, some of them very striking - a despicable father, an abusive mother - and others luminous - the school teacher, the male nurse. There are others that represent the promise of a better future, like her children, at the same time the reason for her to fight for a better life and the prize to be achieved in that fight. And there are characters that, clearly, get in the way and sink into the life they lead. It is not a happy film, nor is there a happy ending for everyone here. The cast deserves collective applause for the work they have done. Gabourey Sidibe was very young and little known when she made this film, but she proved to be a promise for the talent shown and for her intense, credible, committed and serious performance of a character who had everything to become nauseating if the actor lacked the ability to avoid it. And this is even more remarkable if we consider that it was the first cinematographic work by the actress who, however, has been more active in the television series. Equally intense and impressive, Mo'Nique's work deserves applause for the courageous way in which she gave herself to a very difficult task: giving life to the most horrible character in the film in a way that moves us and makes us truly feel sorry for her, not hatred. Personally, I loved the way she made the character and I highly value her delivery and professionalism. Mariah Carey was also up to the challenge and gave us an excellent job. Technically, it is a very discreet film, which gives the story told and the characters the necessary space to develop as they deserve. Cinematography is elegant and the sets and costumes are within what we could expect. The soundtrack also doesn't have much room to stand out, discreetly fulfilling its role.

Precious is a decent movie. The movie had strong acting by Mo'Nique and Alicia Keys. The movie displays the kind nature of a women in a cruel world, especially in the rural areas of New York City.

This film was good, although the hype is a little bit misguided. The unfortunate thing is that it's hard to gain an emotional connection with the characters, although you agree that the abuse is disgusting, it's not the type of thing that makes one cry or really FEEL. Mo'Nique's performance was indeed amazing, as was Carey as the understated but effective social worker Ms Weiss, but other than that the film was a little hard to watch.

I wanted to like it, but the clumsiness of its execution means it fails to move. The movie fails on many fronts: the "dream sequences" just confuse the plot; the characters are explored only superficially; the plot dawdles. Perhaps worst of all, the film relies on a blunt "haul on the heartstrings" approach rather than putting real effort into conveying emotion. It seems like it should be more of a touching story, but instead it is depressing violence, and left me feeling bleak, rather than uplifted.