In Theaters: Precious

Movieline Score: 7

That scene also cues a corny touch Daniels returns to throughout the film: in a straight visual translation of Precious's coping mechanism in moments of crisis, we see her transported to a realm of flashbulbs and feather boas; a light-skinned hottie admires her vamping as music plays at a drowning crank. The idea is clear -- and valid -- but something is lost in the execution. Similarly, when Precious envisions a sweet, nurturing version of Mary beckoning to her from a magazine, or when she looks in the mirror and sees a pretty white girl staring back, the message is both too blunt and too volatile to be handled in a throw-away. The film's racial stance is something of a tease, satisfying in the discrete moments when it is addressed directly -- as when Precious says that she knows society sees her as "ugly black grease to be wiped away," or in a wonderful moment with a counselor (played by a surprisingly lifelike Mariah Carey) when Precious, compelled to sort her out by skin color, can't contain her curiosity about Carey's extraction -- but doesn't cohere in a way that these moments suggest it might, or even should.

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Over Mary's (violent) objections, Precious attends the alternative school, and the scenes that take place there (in a classroom led by Blu Rain, played by Paula Patton) rarely skirt the sentimental, even as they can't avoid a number of Stand and Deliver scenarios. Precious's classmates are perfectly cast, vividly portrayed variations on armored girlhood, and the camaraderie they build is as authentic and tough as their hides. When Precious finally delivers her baby, being hospitalized (and tended to by a good-natured nurse played by Lenny Kravitz) seems to be the best thing for her; basic kindness and attention are a revelation for a girl who can say "love ain't done nothing for me; love beats me, rapes me, tells me I'm worthless."

While Mo'Nique's performance is the barnburner, it is Sidibe and her classmates who resonate, who inhabit a world outside of themselves and their wretched fiefdoms. Several times we meet a young girl in Precious's building who seems to mortify and anger the teenager with her constant, pitifully bald calls for attention; Precious shuns and shoves her, as though repulsed by the need she had to work so hard to bury. There is terror in that cycle, and also an inverted tenderness; in a vicious world the naked are eaten first. Sidibe translates the necessary heartbreak of that moment, and of her character's ultimate emancipation, with a humanity that outpaces -- and outweighs -- the film's more theatrical bids for your tears.

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Comments

  • Colander says:

    I need to find a masochist to see this with.

  • Hernando Bansuelo says:

    Gabourey for Best Actress! Monique for Supporting! A sweet double knock out.

  • bess marvin, girl detective says:

    I've come to terms with the fact that I will see this alone which is probably best as I don't want to any of my friends to know that my heart pumps anything other than oil.

  • Daft Clown says:

    Lenny Kravitz is alive?

  • sweetbiscuit says:

    Yes, me, too. We can see the film together, as long as we don't sit together and never own up to any emotional response to the movie. Hey, it's a date!

  • dildo says:

    As long as you've got everyone believing you are doing some serious work on PC at your home office, then you will have your peace. Lets not deny it, it's a fact of life.

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