Precious or Just Kinda Nice

Push was a novel that was given to me by a good friend I trust. She warned me. Set me up for what was to come. It never came close the real experience.

So then came the movie Precious. Based on the work of Sapphire this was a must view for me. The novel captured me so much emotionally that I could only imagine transformed to my favorite medium. Sadly, I'm left a little deflated though I know what I saw was good.

Precious is ambitious like other films based on literary works are. It doesn't try to capture its own vision but sticks HARD to the truth that the novel told. It is here that I felt this movie didn't live up to what it could have. The novel gave us a view from the mind of Precious Jones through heavy use to narration and snippets of her class work as she works towards her GED. In fairytale style it performed a function that was tragic and very human. You felt every hurt Precious felt but you didn't want it to stop because the story was so compelling.

In the movie instead we are led along with these mask facsimiles of the characters from the book. I never once felt as real or pulled in as I did with the book. The acting was strong, the writing superb, but it felt like a scrapbook of some else's reading experience. I wanted to be immersed but instead felt like I was watching the movie through a Viewmaster.

Usually I'll be the first to try to beg for a pulling back of emotion in movies. Sometimes too much emotion can make the experience contrived. This one I felt just didn't have enough. Only one time did I feel different. A very tragic scene near the end which I'll leave un-detailed for those who haven't seen the movie yet.

Gabourey Sidibe is a star and I certainly hope her size doesn't kill her in the eyes of Hollywood. She is a big girl...with a big presence and the way to sell a part. Mariah Carey was surprising. She can act. She was the real surprise for me in the movie. Paula Patton and all the girls in the class also were real strong performances.

I think where the movie loses it is the directors vision. Lee Daniels tries but just never quite gets what it is he is meant to put on the screen. It might have just been the work of his DP but in the end I felt this movie lived up to the trappings of the hype movie. It saddens me because I loved the novel so much. To see anything less than perfection is just unacceptable. There is hope in some moments in Daniels' work but his star doesn't rise for me with this one.