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Movies / In Theaters / Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire
Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire

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Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009)

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Reviews Counted:195

Fresh:177

Rotten:18

Average Rating:7.8/10

Consensus: Precious is a grim yet ultimately triumphant film about abuse and inner-city life, largely bolstered by exceptional performances from its cast.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for child abuse including sexual assault, and pervasive language

Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Nov 6, 2009 Limited

Box Office: $46,057,209

Synopsis: Lee Daniels’s PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome. Set in Harlem in 1987, it is... Lee Daniels’s PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome.

Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo’Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write.

Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn’t know the meaning of “alternative,” but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.

In Official Selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard, and winner of three awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE stars Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz and introducing Gabourey Sidibe.

Lionsgate in association with Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry present A Lee Daniels Entertainment / Smokewood Entertainment Group Production of PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE, directed by Lee Daniels from a screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher based on the novel Push by Sapphire. --© Lionsgate [More]

Starring: Gabourey "Gabbie" Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz

Starring: Gabourey "Gabbie" Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd

Director: Lee Daniels

Director: Lee Daniels
Screenwriter: Damien Paul
Producer: Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
Composer: Mario Grigorov
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Reviews for Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire

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What makes Precious bearable are the moments of warmth, hope and humour that are delivered mainly during the scenes with Precious’s teacher and classmates.

Full Review Source: Cinema Autopsy | comment Comment
02/08/10
Thomas Caldwell
Thomas Caldwell
Cinema Autopsy

While it may not be perfect on a technical level, dramatically it’s a blow-your-socks-off triumph. Be moved. Very, very moved.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/02/10
Angie Errigo
Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine

A film full of life and love, well-meaning and, judging by the reaction in the US, a genuine and important phenomenon that says act – don’t dwell – on your dreams.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/02/10
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out

Impressive performances power a surprisingly lively account of an existence blighted by material and spiritual poverty.

Full Review Source: Film4 | comment Comment
02/02/10
Film4

Precious is a big-screen “misery memoir” that is so keen to trace the hellish pathology of familial abuse that it risks glorifying its own subject, or at least shooting it with horror-movie verve.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
02/02/10
Kevin Maher
Kevin Maher
Times [UK]

It isn't the transcendent ­masterpiece that some admirers would have you believe: more like a black-comic nightmare that isn't exactly ­supposed to be funny. It's certainly ­arresting, though.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/02/10
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]

It’s enough to make you cry. Equally, it might make you laugh. Daniels is a director who would find it hard to imagine puddings can be over-egged, or that Monty Python’s 'We’re So Poor’ sketch was meant to be funny.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
02/02/10
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph

Employing a suitably chiaroscuro film language to balance the emotional extremes of the subject matter, his vision is a lively composite of urban nightmare and garish escapism.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
02/02/10
Emma Paterson
Emma Paterson
Little White Lies

Stylishly told and earnestly acted, Precious is a far from pleasant cinemagoing experience but a worthwhile one.

Full Review Source: Digital Spy | comment Comment
02/02/10
Ben Rawson-Jones
Ben Rawson-Jones
Digital Spy

As a slice-of-life drama free of melodrama, sentimentality and cliché, Precious is priceless.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
02/02/10
Elliott Noble
Elliott Noble
Sky Movies

A moving mix of melodrama and social tract graced by courage, heart, soul and a lumbering but resilient heroine.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
02/02/10
Matt Mueller
Matt Mueller
Total Film

Stylistically the film is a confusing, garish mishmash of gritty urban realism and hyper-stylised fantasy sequences. However, these glimpses behind Precious's otherwise impassive facade are effective.

Full Review Source: Radio Times | comment Comment
02/02/10
Lucy Barrick
Lucy Barrick
Radio Times

There is a thin line between compassion and voyeurism; soul-searing drama and overwrought melodrama; opera and Oprah. This film tramples all over it.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
02/02/10
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

Somehow all the trauma never overwhelms the characters who feel real, particularly Precious herself whose silence conveys more inner sadness than a million words.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
02/02/10
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Broad strokes in storytelling are balanced by subtle performances from the talented cast.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
02/02/10
Alex Zane
Alex Zane
Sun Online

What is surprising about the film is the harshness with which her adverse conditions are depicted, and the tentativeness of her recovery.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
02/02/10
Leo Robson
Leo Robson
Financial Times

So staggering, in fact, are the offences to decency, loyalty and love that you begin to worry that the film will topple over from the weight of its woes.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
02/02/10
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

Precious is part pamphlet, part dramatised talk-show therapy – and to be fair, it's honest about its intentions. But as cinema, it's just really bad, strident pulp.

Full Review Source: Independent on Sunday | comment Comment
02/02/10
Jonathan Romney
Jonathan Romney
Independent on Sunday

A film that you will not easily forget. It is a cry from the heart told with an emotional charge that takes your breath away.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
02/02/10
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

If the director sometimes takes a sledgehammer to crack a nut, then all will be forgiven as you watch the story of Precious unfold.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
02/02/10
Andrew O'Hagan
Andrew O'Hagan
This is London
 
 
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Latest News for Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by...

February 05, 2010: Five Favorite Films With Precious' Gabby Sidibe
For a first-time ever actor, Gabby Sidibe's been thrown directly into the glare of the spotlight: the star of Lee Daniels' critically acclaimed inner city drama Precious has... More...

February 02, 2010: Oscar Nominee Gabby Sidibe Talks Precious
Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe had no aspirations to be an actress before she took on the title role in Lee Daniels' Precious, which might be why her astounding performance felt so... More...

January 25, 2010: Win tickets to Precious, plus the soundtrack!
Thanks to Icon we've got five double passes and five soundtracks to give away to 'Precious', the acclaimed new film based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire. More...

December 04, 2009: Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
Five or six years ago, the Sundance Film Festival was more famous for showing dozens of worthy, politically correct movies that instantly disappeared than the odd breakout hits... More...

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