February 24, 2010

'PRECIOUS'


A shocking story, poorly told.

Set in Harlem in 1987, the central character is an obese 16-year-old black girl known as "Precious". She is illiterate, a victim of constant physical and verbal abuse, and has just been kicked out of school for being pregnant with her second child.

Not many films dealing with abuse and incest have made it into the mainstream. And yet, it's an epidemic in our world - with one in four people suffering from sexual abuse at some stage of their lives. For this reason, I commend 'Precious', because it's important that stories like this are told. As a piece of film making however, I was disappointed.

It was a mish-mash of tones, and ultimately didn't seem to know what kind of film it was. At times it felt like a 'Dangerous Minds'-esque story about disadvantaged teens on the path to redemption, at others there was a Lars von Tiers emotional distance from horrific events. Then at times there were comedic moments that were used to alleviate tension form uncomfortable scenes. This sounds great - Shakespeare was a master of blending tones and genres in order to reach the widest audiences, but 'Precious' didn't blend. It relies on "fade-to-black"s to advance the narrative, and this is sloppy film making.

The acting was incredible (particularly from Mo'Nique, who plays the mother), but for some reason I didn't fully engage with any of the characters. Apart from an entertaining Jamaican classmate, they were hackneyed stereotypes, not particularly well-developed. The horrific scenes were heavy and uncomfortable, but dumping them on a screen is kind of a cop-out to me. Shock-tactics are an easy way to get an audience's attention. It's like gratuitous violence in films - often people are so effected by the action that they don't stop to question whether it was necessary.

I know that many people have been deeply effected by 'Precious', so maybe I'm being a bit harsh on the film. The poster advertising the film is fantastic, and it set my expectations high. Maybe if I hadn't see the art work, I wouldn't have been so disappointed in the moive. What's more likely though, is that I wouldn't have gone to see it.

Actually, that wouldn't have been a great loss.

5 / 10.

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