Precious
2008
****
Director: Lee Daniels
Cast: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Sherri Shepherd, Nealla Gordon, Staphanie Andujaras
It's 1987 in Harlem, where Precious, an obese and reclusive 16-year-old, lives with her spiteful, abusive mother. She was raped by her absent father and is now pregnant with her second child. She's forced to transfer to an alternative school, but it turns out to be a blessing in disguise. This sounds like a perfect set-up for a formulaic overcoming-the-odds story, but this tough drama doesn't offer its protagonist an easy way out. All the hardship leads to a climax, which is emotionally charged but compellingly truthful. Geoffrey S. Fletcher earned an Oscar for adapting Sapphire's 1996 novel Push. The performances are excellent: Gabourey Sidibe is an aptly fragile Precious and Mo'Nique's Academy Award winning performance as the mother is frankly intimidating.
