Comments on: My review of “Precious”

By: K.

K. — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:19:22 +0000

I saw it this afternoon and have been thinking about the hope to be found in it. It’s absolutely there in Ms. Rain, Mrs. Weiss, the nurse played by Lenny Kravitz (that scene where he’s checking out Ms. Rain’s partner and Precious just shakes her head no is hilarious), and in all of her friends at school. And I was comforted knowing that Mary wouldn’t be allowed to abuse anyone anymore, that she’d be left alone to stew in her own self-loathing. I was happy to see Precious doing math and reading better. But at the end of the day, Precious is a teenager with two kids, (one of whom has Down Syndrome so needs more care), limited skills, and a terminal illness. And when she dies, what happens to her kids? They’d go back into the system. And maybe they’d luck into wonderful caring families, but maybe they wouldn’t, and if they did, it would still be hard and scary for them for a while.

Maybe that’s a strength of the movie, that everything isn’t wrapped up so neatly. I thought the most uplifting moment is when Precious looks in the mirror and sees herself and smiles, rather than seeing herself as someone else. But when she walks out into the street with her kids at the end, I was thinking “And then what?”

By: Sure

Sure — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:06:05 +0000

First, for anyone not familiar with Harlem, it is not a bleak den of suffering and abuse. Sure, there are folks in need and social and economic concerns, but to paint that entirety of Harlem with the broad brush of pathology and suffering is incredibly wrong. Frankly, I live amongst plenty of black professionals with graduate educations, content marriages and intact families, so the depictions in Precious are not and have never been my Harlemworld.
Overall I despise this film Precious for being an exploitative over the top spectacle. This blog titled “Why I Hated Precious” captures my feelings well:
http://hitmebackblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-i-hated-precious.html

By: Debra Glover

Debra Glover — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:06:39 +0000

I can only dream of seeing this movie, we are not getting it, anywhere in Oklahoma, soon. It will be here for two weeks December 3, 2009, only and one theatre….how sad, why? because it’s not profitable?…..wow, thanks for sharing….

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:52:50 +0000

I agree with K.’s “excited and scared” senses of anticipation about the movie. Your review makes me more excited than scared, but I’m thinking I should probably see it when I can have some guaranteed downtime afterward. I loved, loved, loved Sapphire after reading the book. I didn’t love the book, but I loved her for writing it, if that makes any sense at all. I was in physical pain after reading it from being curled so tightly in the fetal position through the entire book. And the crying…oh, the crying.

So yeah, I’m going to need a little time-out after seeing it, I think. Thanks for posting your review of the film so quickly…I am NOT lying when I say my decision to see it or not depended heavily on your review. Checking local listings now…

By: K.

K. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:01:10 +0000

I’m excited and scared to see it at the same time. I read the book and it’s just heartbreaking – you want to scream “MY GOD, cut this kid a break.” So I’m going into the movie with my eyes open. I used to volunteer as a rape crisis counselor and I once counseled a girl like Precious (15, mildly mentally retarded, overweight), who had been raped by her alcoholic (but not abusive) mother’s crack-addict boyfriend, and I mean to tell you, I bawled my eyes out when I got home. I’m scared to see that on the big screen. I WILL see the movie, but I’m just kind of scared to see such hurt play out.

Gabourey Sidibe seems awesome in real life – I saw a clip of her on Ellen and I immediately wanted to be her friend.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:47:33 +0000

Love your review. Loved the film. We were totally unprepared for how wonderful this film captured Precious’s struggle while commenting our society’s struggles.

How the director (0r perhaps author) was able to address gender stereotypes with the male nurse’s role, relationship stereotypes with Ms. Rain’s role, and the traumatic silence of church, was masterful/inspiring!

By: James

James — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:13:07 +0000

I cannot wait to see this film.