Precious (Drama)

This movie ended with a dedication "For Precious girls everywhere" - I must be a little too precious as I found this film very difficult to watch. 'Precious' is a hard hitting film based on the book 'Push' by Sapphire about a young African-American teenage girl (Precious) living in Harlem, NY who is illiterate, overweight, and pregnant with her second child.

The film stars Gabourey Sidibe as Clareece "Precious" Jones who is so completely believable at times it felt more like a documentary than a movie. Also starring in Precious were a motley crew of rockstars and actors including Mo'nique (who did an unbelievable job of playing Clareece's mum), Paula Patton as Clareece' "special" teacher (who almost inspired me to go back to school), Mariah Carey (so real in her role as Mrs Weiss the social worker and so very un-Mariah thank god), and Lenny Kravitz (in his role as a gentle male nurse who befriends Clareece just when she needs it most).

Whilst I was expecting this film to be challenging - as the two chatterboxes behind reminded me just as the film was starting ("yeah I know it's going to be challenging but I've seen challenging films before, like.... Blood Diamond !?), I didn't expect it would leave me feeling quite so drab. The film essentially chronicles an accumulation of social misfortunes that Precious has to deal with, almost too many to bear in my opinion. As I said earlier, maybe I'm a little too "precious" but I thought the movie would've been equally powerful without the final additional misfortune she was dealt (which I won't reveal for the sake of not spoiling the movie).

Despite the generally dire situation that Precious found herself in, and the heartbreak that surrounded many of the characters, there were a few laughs throughout the movie which helped to offer brief moments of respite. The bright and breezy fantasy scenes that Precious frequently disappeared into when things got almost too unbearable were also much appreciated and helped you forget how bad things were just for a little while. There were also some memorable uplifting scenes and characters. I particularly loved her classmate Joann. At one stage when the girls are introducing themselves to their other class mates, Joann innocently describes her favourite colour as "flourescent beige" - I love this line as an analogy for the whole movie - anyone who can see a nice side of beige can see the good in any horrible situation.

Oprah, who is a big fan of the movie, apparently said that people might not "enjoy" but would "appreciate this experience" which sums up my own viewing experience perfectly. In my opinion, what really makes this film so deserved of all the hype and Oscar nomination talk are the actors and their respective performances - every single person was absolutely amazing, completely on the mark, and individually they all evoked the full range of emotions intended. Of particular note is Clareece' mother who I'm sure you'll will equally detest and feel sorry for by the end of the film.

I found this film so dark - which I should note was a reaction that seems to be in contrast to a number of other reviews I've read that describe the film as "uplifting", "exhilarating", "cathartic"- that it was difficult to draw too many parallels to my own life. I guess what I can draw from this film is a simple reminder that bad things can get better, that life is about the people you find along the way, that we're stronger than we think, that education should never be taken for granted, and that eating a bucket of fried chicken all in one go never did anyone any favours.

• The film was shot in five weeks!
• 400 girls tried out for the part of Precious that went to Gabourey Sidibe just 6 weeks before shooting commenced
• Helen Mirren was originally cast for the part played by Mariah Carey but then dropped out