Review of Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (2009) by Brian R — 02 Jun 2012

"Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" is a masterpiece. I didn't expect a film like this to be so powerful and one cannot be moved by the events that lay ahead. This picture just blew me away to tears.

Gabourey Sidibe's performance is amazing. She plays as the 16 year old illiterate Claireece "Precious" Jones who deals with a lot of abusement in her life. She gets pregnant twice by her father, gets physically, mentally and sexually abused by her mother, gets pushed and teased harshfully by the kids in her area, suffers from being overweight and is seen as unattractive to others and finally she cannot read and write. It is when Precious meets a caring teacher that is willing to change her life and become a better human being. Sidibe becomes the character and it is magical. It is one of the best performances I have ever seen on screen.

The same goes to Mo'Nique. I did not expect her to be so good and not only is she good but she is very good as Precious's abusive mother Mary, who envies her own daughter once Mary finds out that her very own daughter's been pregant by her father. Mo'Nique has been in mostly comedic/sitcom parts but I don't believe anyone didn't know what to expect seeing her in this film. She instantly becomes Mary who is machismo, cruel, heartless, vain, and abusive. The very last scene is her last hurrah and watch how she takes command. This is one of the best performances in Mo'Nique career and probably the most realistic.

Paula Patton plays as Blu Ray who has an eye out for Precious and is willing to work with her and get her through her tough times in life, John McFadden (Lenny Kravitz) who is a male nurse who is caring and sympathetic to Precious after she has her child and is willing to send her some money to support herself, Sherri Shepherd plays as one of the staff secretaries who seems to almost had enough of her job seeing carefree students everyday, Robert DeNiro's wife Grace Hightower has a cameo but the biggest shock was seeing Mariah Carey as the social worker Ms. Weiss. Carey manages to strip away the glitter that people is so use to seeing into a normal, almost real social worker. Sidibe adds a bit of improv questions to Carey and it's amazing how well she handles them back.

"Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" is a real film, a moving film and once again a picture that made my jaw drop. After watching director Lee Daniels terrible "Shadowboxer" he hits one out of the park this time with sheer force and captivates, hope, determination and brilliance.