The absolute favorite to win the Oscar for Best Picture in a few months,Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire is worth all the hype, controversy and acclaim. Directed by Lee Daniels and with a script by Geoffrey Fletcher, the movie tells the tale of an overweight, illiterate teenager named Claireece Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), who has the unlikely nickname of Precious. She lives with her monstrous mother Mary (Mo’Nique), who spends all day and night watching television, screaming or physically abusing Precious. Several months pregnant and already with one child, both by her father, Precious doesn’t have much of a future. However, she does have the glimmer of one. Though she struggles at school, Precious shows promise and determination. She heads to Each One, Teach one, an alternative teaching institute specifically for women like her and with the aid of her teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins to have hope for a life outside her current nightmare. Though unlikely to have her full dreams, which are presented simply but energetically by Daniels in brief glimpses, this young woman will escape her confines.
If all of this sounds trite, you would be on the mark. Yet, unlike this weekend’s other tale of a down-and-out poor black teenager The Blind Side, Precious reveals a fully formed world where every character’s ups highs and lows are written on their faces. Even with all the hoopla surrounding Daniels’ film, which has been building momentum and word of mouth since its Sundance premiere in January, Precious remains a revelation, and not in a hokey, “poor people porn” manner. The writing evokes the best works of playwright August Wilson, with individuals that fight for their own and face countless hardships but remain distinctly human through out. People are complicated. Precious herself, clearly a sweet girl in a horrid position, makes no apologies for actions that include stealing food from a restaurant.
Oddly enough, at times Precious is a funny film. In adapting Sapphire’s work, Daniels and Fletcher keep the titular heroine’s humor as a key characteristic. With her new friends, she laughs at her male nurse (Lenny Kravitz). Elsewhere, he pondering of a life with her math teacher brings some lightness to a rough first act that is surrounded by misery. Daniels’ ability to present brutal, raw emotions with a shade of playfulness - particularly in the weaving in of Precious’ narration - is one of the movie’s finest achievements.
The other, of course, is the acting. Big and bold performances are all around here, from the newcomer Sidibe to comedian Mo’Nique. You’ve either never seen these actresses before or you’ve never seen them like this (Maria Carey and Sherri Shepherd each delivering knock-out supporting turns). Sibide, in her first film role, is breathtaking. Stern but shaken, she has a visceral power in her acting that is hard to match, though Mo’Nique does just that as a vivid, frightening mother who has spent every waking minute of her life justifying her heinous actions. These two give Precious a startling power. That there is no easy out for these two troubled souls gives the films its true lasting effectiveness.
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire opens at Landmark’s Harvard Exit Theatre and Lincoln Square Cinemas today.
Director John Lee Hancock’s new movie The Blind Side will be a big crowd pleaser. Audiences will slowly embrace its goodwill, sassy tone and Sandra Bullock’s southern drawl. It is too bad the movie is Hollywood mush, which at best is mildly entertaining and at worst uses worn out stereotypes and one-dimension characters to simplify a truly remarkable real-life story.
That tale, originally written into a novel by Michael Lewis, is of Michael Oher. Growing up poor, Oher (played by Quinton Arron in the film) was eventually taken in by Leigh Anne Touhy (Bullock), the wife of a wealthy fast-food chain owner. Oher would go on to play college football and even make into the NFL as an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens. A touching piece of true drama, which in Hancock’s hands, is turned into the worst kind of mainstream, feel-good, no-edge filmmaking.
I have no doubt that Oher is the gentle giant he is presented as in The Blind Side. Nor do I question Mrs. Touhy’s nature as a take-no-crap woman with a heart of gold. What is farfetched is the way in which the movie plays out. Oher isn’t merely gentle, he is barely there as a human being. Oher is a gargantuan angel, always saying please, sitting at the dinner table for meals and only listening to the kindliest of rap music (Young MC). He seems to have no passions, goals or thoughts. There is one thing to be an introvert, another altogether to be a teenager of pure perfection, who never questions another person’s good deeds until he is asked to in the most melodramatic way possible.
Hancock writes and directs with zero ambiguity. Lewis’ book detailed Touhy’s childhood, where a racist father in an equally hateful neighborhood raised her. Surely, the decision to pick up a wandering, seemingly homeless black boy, literally off the streets, came with complications besides one or two smarmy white women at the country club making snide remarks. The Blind Side does not need to be a rough drama in the vein of Precious, but some degree of complication would smooth over the awkwardness.
It is a shame for the movie to fail on such a level. Besides the obviously amazing story, Bullock gives her all and is quite excellent as Touhy, the first time in ages since she was given a role with at least the faintest spark. Too bad the depth of her character and the picture cannot match.
The Blind Side opens wide all across Seattle today.
Comments
Regarding 'The Blind Side'... Not all films are best served by being 'edgy'. Sometimes a 'dramatic feel-good' approach works better. Which is why I've commented elsewhere that this is a good example of a 'genre' film. The genre isn't 'edgy, verité biography'. It's 'something you can take the entire family to see'. Besides; I don't believe Oher's story lends itself to anything but 'feel-good'; there's simply not enough there to work with.
The notion of 'genre specificity' is something most critics (indeed, most filmgoers) have such a hard time grasping. But to me, it's like walking into a burger joint, ordering the Special, and then saying 'This beef should have been presented differently.' Silly, just plain silly.
I enjoyed both reviews...they are helpful in my decision making as to which films I might see. Thanks
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