Continuing our power walk to the Oscars, Maria and I watched Precious over the weekend and I’d like to share some thoughts.
My initial thought—and it was Maria’s too—was finally. Finally a movie, out of all the Best Picture picks we’ve watched so far, that truly deserves a nomination. Precious deserves the Best Picture nod. Absolutely.
Precious, fully-titled as Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, isn’t a Hollywood film, and it shows. Adapted from a novel, the movie became somewhat of an underground success last year when Oprah Winfrey jumped on board to help with its promotion. It’s limited release and lack of real star power gave it a certain reputation as an underdog contender in the Best Picture category so we didn’t quite know what to expect. Still, I think whatever expectations we did have, were pretty well blown away when we finally sat down to watch it.
Precious finds its strength, as a film, in two areas: a brutally honest storyline, and acting that will knock your socks off.
First, storyline. The film is set in Harlem in the 1980’s, we learn that right away. It’s a ghetto. It’s complete poverty. And it’s wholly uncensored. The story centers around a young black girl in high school named Precious. She’s had a rough life, as we quickly learn, and it’s only getting rougher. The film follows Precious as she struggles to make sense of it all, and to make it, in general. Life, for her, is incredibly complicated.
The action in the movie is real, more realistic than anything I can remember in a long time, and it’s powerful. Without saying a lot about the plot, just imagine, completely uncensored poverty, front and center. If critics accused Slumdog Millionaire of glorifying or romanticizing poverty in India when it came out, perhaps Precious would be a good example to prove their point. Precious makes Slumdog’s view of India look like Beverly Hills. This is real, shameful poverty.
And the acting, my gosh. Despite some curious casting decisions—Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz(?)—the film features, by far, some of the best pieces of acting we’ve seen in probably the last few years. Mo’Nique, for example, is absolutely incredible as the protagonist’s mother. Her character is a mean, vindictive and obscenely complicated person which she portrays with such power and complexity that it just sends shivers up my spine to even think about it. Honestly, even Carey is pretty amazing in her role.
On the whole, I have to say, Precious was very refreshing to watch. So far I’ve been pretty unimpressed with this year’s picks for Best Picture but my faith has been restored. Precious is a captivating film that takes a hard, honest look at poverty and struggle. Its characters are real and powerful and are acted so well you’ll forget that you’re watching acting at all. It’s a difficult film to watch, it tackles some very challenging topics, but if you want to see film-making at its best and actors who are on their game, this is the film to see. So, so good.
My question is, when I watch it am I going to cry for a full two hours?
Everyone said it was so hard to watch. It was. However, it was full of hope, which I did not expect.