For months, I've been dying to see this little movie called Precious. I didn't really know much about it, other than the hype surrounding it. More specifically the performance by Mo'Nique. Now when I heard she was in this, I honestly thought that it was a comedy. Damn was I wrong.
Precious is a hard hitting look at a 16 year old in Harlem in the early 1980s, not that the time period had ANYTHING to do with the story. Claireece Precious Jones (played by new comer Gabourey Sidibe) is a two time pregnant sixteen year old must learn to deal with life at an "alternative" school, in addition to a child with Down syndrome, helping her abusive mother keep her welfare, and dealing with her own scars from her past. Sidibe plays Precious like a seasoned pro.
Although, as good as Sidibe is in this movie, Mo'Nique is the real star. I believe that right now the Academy already has her name on her Best Supporting Actress Oscar. In the first 15 minutes of the movie, you will FEAR her like the plague. Talk about a power-house performer, I honestly didn't think she had it in her, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Every time Precious walks down the stairs from her bedroom, you actually fear for her life and wonder which corner Mary (Mo'Nique) is hiding behind. As much as I LOVED this movie, I almost wish that we got a little more of her back story so we could maybe sympathize with her why she is so mean and evil.
You will not know what to do with yourself having just seen this movie, it's that real. Not that I know what it's like to me a sixteen year old, African-American teenager growing up in Harlem with one baby and one on the way, but I feel like I got a huge insight into her world.
Oprah urges you to see this film.
Tyler Perry urges you to see this film.
Now I urge you to see this.
This is definitely one of the movies to keep an eye out for come the March Oscar ceremony.
