Movie Review - Precious: Based on a Novel PUSH by Sapphire

When I saw the new Lee Daniel's movie, Precious I noticed a lot of similarities between this movie and last year's Oscars hearthrob Slumdog Millionaire. And I'm not talking about the fact that both movies won the Audience Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. What I'm talking about is that they both tell a story of teenagers, born into a world filled with suffering, despair and abuse, that most of us can't even relate to. The best part, however, is that they use these horrible circumstances as a backdrop only and focus on the resilience of their main characters and how hope of finding love (Slumdog) or fame (Precious) gives them energy to fight. That message of hope and optimism is what our world needs right now and Precious delivers on it.

Precious tells the story of a morbidly obese African American teenager Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe) who lives in Harlem with her emotionally and physically abusive mother Mary (Mo'Nique). She's pregnant with her second baby from her rapist father and she just got kicked out of her school. She's illiterate for the most part, except she's good in math. She gets an opportunity to better her life when she enrolls in an alternative school Each One/Teach One where she develops a special bond with her teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton) and her motley crew of classmates. In addition to the support from Ms Rain and her classmates, she also finds help from a social worker Mrs Weiss (Mariah Carey) and develops confidence to continue to improve her life and eventually believe that she can take care of her kids and break all ties from her mother.

Other than the story and the message, what truly stands out are the Oscar worthy performances from the newcomer, Gabby and the comedienne Mo'Nique. Director Lee Daniels does a great job in telling this story and getting some great work from actors across the board. Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey looked very different without all the rockstar and diva glitz around them. They both do a great job.

Walking out of the theater I felt the movie deserved 5 stars and that's what I'm going with. It's an important story and has been told well. Go watch it!!

The movie had a limited release last week in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta and opens wide later this month.