Blu-ray Review
Precious
 Official Synopsis:
Precious Jones, an inner-city high school girl, is illiterate, overweight, and pregnant...again. Naive and abused, Precious responds to a glimmer of hope when a door is opened by an alternative-school teacher. She is faced with the choice to follow opportunity and test her own boundaries. Prepare for shock, revelation and celebration.
Our Take:
Liberal-minded critics of the world…UNITEEEEE!
Basically that is what happened after the release of Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire and quite frankly, I do not get it.As if out of fear of being deemed a racist, “weight-ist,” or elitist, the critical community (barring some) decided to go out of their way to praise what is at the end of the day, a mediocre film propped up by one unbelievable performance and dragged down by ham-fisted direction.
Before getting to the film itself, I’ll lead with the positive.One word: Mo’Nique.Her performance in this picture is easily the best of 2009.Delving into the darkest of human emotions, Mo’Nique embodies all the fears and resentments of an entire society.Not only is she a villain in the classical sense of the word in that she is an abusive mother, but she is also indicative of the most dangerous thing in society, reinforcement for hurtful and untrue African American stereotypes.What made the performance so brilliant, and the character so scary, is the way it feels authentic to the point where it gets so uncomfortable you begin to wish Mo’Nique would wink at the audience or at least do something hackneyed, to remind us that this is just an actor in a role.But, she is so convincing that we watch and can already here some ignorant racist shout out, “See, I told you so!” as the character so blatantly hits every item on the racist stereotype checklist (abuse of the welfare system, uneducated, loud and obnoxious, etc).Had Mo’Nique’s performance wavered it would have been reassuring, but also damaging.Mugging it in that role would be as crude and offensive as the “racist robots” in Transformers 2.Instead, Mo’Nique delivers a performance that will shake many to their core.If only the film itself was as powerful as Mo’Nique’s performance.
With the rave theatrical reviews of nearly all the critics ringing in my ears, I sat down to watch Precious.I was severely let down by this Oprah movie of the week, which is a critical darling, sadly, for all the wrong reasons.It was daring to cast an obese actress instead of putting a thin one in a fat suit ala Shallow Hal, but then the film just dwells on her and her weight to the point of being insulting.For example, what is the point of a close-up of her mouth as she puts greasy fried chicken in it, if not to draw audience attention to her weight as something to be disgusted by?This is the main shortcoming of the film and Lee Daniels’ direction, everything is piled on and shoved in your face to the point that it bludgeons the audience into not caring.In short, the film objectifies Precious (Gabourey Sidibe).Unlike objects of desire populating PG-13 raunchy comedies everywhere, Precious is sadly just a one stop shop for all the ills of the world (obesity, poverty, incest, the African American "ghetto" experience, and more).We get let into Precious’ fantasies via lushly shot daydreams, but really, Precious is just there to be tortured so the audience feels bad.It is pretty damn sad, both this approach and the actual movie itself.
Eventually, it just becomes too much.Name a horrible thing that can happen to a person and it happens to Precious.It will make everyone go "Awwwww" and fear speaking out against it lest you step on one of the thousand politically correct landmines laid down by the film at the audience’s feet.And really, that is all Precious amounts to, a mere provocation.It dares you to say something politically incorrect when discussing the film.Hell, even its own director, Lee Daniels, fell into the trap at the 41st NAACP Image Awards when he said, “No one in Hollywood told me they wanted to see a movie about a 350-pound black girl who had HIV.”Journalists have reported that Gabourey Sidibe, who was in the audience at the time looked visibly upset.Sorry Mr. Daniels, looks like you just tricked the weight issue landmine…BOOM!
Audio & Video:
Precious is the type of film that gives me Audio & Video section déjà vu.It is a lower budgeted film that is dialogue driven.Therefore, it will never look like Speed Racer no matter what the format and to be a bad transfer, it would really need to get screwed up.
Lionsgate does not screw up here.The video is naturalistic and without any compression artifacts.Nevertheless, the inherent grain and soft at times filmmaking will not blow anyone away, but is still an upgrade in detail and contrast over the capabilities of standard definition.
On the audio side of things, Lionsgate has used a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that delivers crystal clear sound and properly prioritizes dialogue above the ambient noises of New York City.Like the video, this is an upgrade over standard definition and the best the film is available for home viewing, but not a disc you should use to show off your home theater.
Special Features (Blu-ray Exclusive):
While there are no Blu-ray exclusive extra features here, Lionsgate makes it up to fans of the film by providing all the standard extras in high definition.
Special Features (Standard):
Standard Extras: - Director’s Commentary by Lee Daniels
- From Push to Precious (15 minutes) – featurette presented in high definition
- A Precious Ensemble (18 minutes) – featurette focused on casting the film presented in high definition
- Oprah and Tyler: A Project of Passion (9 minutes) – big name executive producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry discuss their involvement with the film presented in high definition
- A Conversation with Author Sapphire and Director Lee Daniels (8 minutes)
- Audition: Gabourey Sidibe (2 minutes) – presented in high definition
- Deleted Scene: “Incest Survivor Meeting” (2 minutes) – presented in high definition
- Reflections on Precious (1 minute) – presented in high definition
- High Definition Theatrical Trailer
Conclusion:
If The Blind Side is a simplistic movie catering to the “white middle America housewives wanting to feel guilty and take up a cause” sect. Precious is the advanced course version of that movie.It is worth a rental for Mo’Nique’s stunning performance, but that is about it.If you can sit through this sadistic slice of social issue cinema once, I highly doubt you will want to do it again.
Overall Picture:
Movie: C+
Video: B+
Audio: B+
Extra Features: B
- Matthew Orlando
Staff Writer
|
