Precious

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire unwinds as despairing a story as you'd want to see. To the credit of Precious by the time the tale ends we've been moved and uplifted rather than defeated. The film premiered with the title Push and changed to the longer title so as not to be confused with a sci-fi title from earlier in the year.
Director Lee Daniels introduces Gabourey Sidibe in a powerful acting debut as the lead character, a 300-plus pound mess of a teenager. Precious faces abuse, shame and despair on a daily basis. Throw in being raped and impregnated, for the second time, by her father and you have ingredients that would make a ruined life for most people. Precious works best as a character study in alienation, always seeing the story from her viewpoint. Any kindness shown by teachers or social workers is negated by the constant maltreatment at home from her evil mother Mo'Nique.
All of the acting is superlative with Sidibe and Mo'Nique front and center playing out a bizarre mother-daughter relationship that's more psycho drama than fairy tale. Support from Paula Patton matches in compassion the anger wielded by Mo'Nique. Other musicians (Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz) appearing in roles are unrecognizable unless you know beforehand they're in the movie.
Precious tales place in 1987 in Harlem and Daniels imbues the film with garish colors that emphasize the harshness of the environment. A couple of scenes that conclude the film, set in a social worker's office, confront the motives of the characters in a manner that hammers out redemption. In Precious it's the individual who makes the change, not society.
Daniels previously directed a tawdry crime thriller called Shadowboxer that while not without its merits is miles behind Precious in terms of passion and accomplishment.