REVIEW: PRECIOUS
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No question about it, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL 'PUSH' BY SAPPHIRE (15) is no light-hearted romp.
Directed by Lee Daniels (of Monster's Ball fame), first-time actress Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe plays Claireece "Precious" Jones, an obese, illiterate, sexually abused, black teenager living in Harlem.
Pregnant for the second time by her mostly-absent father, she's physically and emotionally abused by her jealous mother (played brilliantly by the American comedian Mo'Nique).
Accepting a place at an alternative school, Precious finds her voice (literally) by learning to read and write and this, at times, overwhelmingly harrowing story becomes invigor-atingly optimistic.
Don't let the knowledge that Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz co-star in this film put you off (as it inevitably will, unless you're one of her three family members who "enjoyed" Glitter); the acting is outstanding.
Yes the abuse Precious suffers is uncomfortable, but it's not ladled on unnecessarily.
Precious starts the film as an invisible mammoth - a huge girl who's so broken and introverted that she's only alive in her fantasies of being famous and therefore loved.
Her redemption through her literacy classes is uplifting and at no point unrealistic - there's no pretence at some kind of quick fix resolution.
Exceptionally moving and surprisingly accessible. - JO USMAR
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