Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

This review is spot on. For an analogous cheap "histrionic fantasy" about a depiction of Jewish life to a mainstream audience, by a Jewish director, see "A Serious Man," by the Coen brothers. Loathsome, disgusting pandering to ethnic stereotypes.

Oct 3 - 08:41 AM

Ibad Shah

I don't really agree that Daniels was trying to slant the film to a very specific emotional response from the audience. I think he really just showed the situation for the way it actually is with relentless and unselfish honesty. He didn't try to make any particular scene sad or any scene funny, it just was what it was. And I think the fantasy sequences were important because it, firstly, implies the hopelessness of her situation and how she really has no way to get to those goals in her fantasy. But, also, especially appropriate for the NYFF audience, it represented the lifestyle of a lot of us in the audience and directly challenged us as we sat cozily in our seats seeing this way of life unfold. Because we can't even imagine what it's like to live under these circumstances - and to suggest that there are no people in communities who live a lifestyle very similar to Precious' is downright delusional and incredibly naive.

Which was, I think, the main issue with this review.

Oct 4 - 11:49 AM

Frisby 2007

Just like your review :)

Oct 26 - 01:18 PM

Nikki Jardine

"Rather than dissect how whites assume responsibility for black people's social welfare, he writes them out of this story completely, simply asking those who may be sitting in the crowd to feel aghast."

He writes them out because he didn't make this movie for them. He made it for black women like me. Heck, the book was written for black women like me. How white people figure into the situation is not important. Geez, save the white angst for another movie.

Oct 26 - 06:09 PM

john b

LOL. White angst. Sounds expensive, but I hear it's all the rage.

Jul 29 - 02:42 PM

Alex Goldberger

Oh reverse racism, how trendy you are.

Oct 26 - 07:05 PM

Jake Sundstrom

Oh, so because this movie "was not written for white people" we must stand back and accept the exclusion of white people? Well that makes perfect sense.

A well written, and well thought out review, it seems like a movie that guilty white people will "enjoy" and then thrust on the rest of us.

Oct 26 - 08:42 PM

Daniel Llewellyn

what's wrong with white people, anyhow?

Oct 27 - 02:20 AM

spencer strausbaugh

Well good sir white people are the demon spawn of satan. They can be blamed for every travesty known to man; natural disasters, poverty, and fox news just to name a few. They are all republicans and they all hate black people.... gosh I am suprised that you did not know that... haven't you ever taken a Sociology class?

Oct 27 - 07:57 AM

Hal Burton

Everyone on here spouting off about whites not being in the movie are simply being ridiculous. "OH NO! THEY EXCLUDED WHITE PEOPLE IN A MOVIE SET IN A BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD VIEWED THROUGH THE EYES OF A BLACK GIRL!!!! HOW!!!!????"

Get over it! Im 25, one of my best friends is 21. I met him at 21 and guess what, I'm his first black friend. He had no blacks in his graduating class in his MA highschool and no black people in neighborhood. IT HAPPENS! Depending on the neighborhood certain races just dont play a role. But I guess now we're witnessing the birth of white-exclusion and it scares them...

Nov 1 - 03:03 PM

The Bigredhunk

I'm so-so on Oprah. Can't stand Tyler Perry. Still, I'm not determined to hate this movie because he's attached. It looks good, and is getting great buzz.

This race thing is idiotic. Most movies we all see are nearly all-white casts, with maybe a token black or latino. How do you think most blacks or latinos feel about that?? It only comes into our conscience because we're (white people) not faced with it very often. Are we going to resent the sh*t out of it someday when we're the minorities? I hope not, because that day is coming.

Grow up people. It's a movie. Who cares what race to which those in it belong. Every movie is shown through a specific lense. Do they all have to be the same?

Nov 1 - 09:43 PM

john b

90% of this flick takes place in Harlem. That's why there aren't many white people in it. 'Nuff said.

Jul 29 - 02:45 PM

P Hello Kitty

That's a bit excessive, don't you think? Us white folks aren't all bad.

Nov 16 - 08:37 AM

brandi cryer

What a horrible review. I didn't know that you are supposed to enjoy a movie based on your race. I highly doubt Sapphire and the filmmakers gave a crap what race or ethnicity the audience consisted of.

Oct 27 - 07:58 AM

john b

Not true. He loved Rocky IV or as he calls it, The Death of Apollo Creed.

Jul 29 - 02:47 PM

J M

*shakes fist at Oprah and Tyler Perry*

Oct 27 - 10:13 AM

Ibad Shah

Everyone here is still being rather ridiculous in your judgments of this review without seeing the movie he's actually referring to. No, white people are not "excluded." The simple, plain, realistic fact of the of the matter is that white people are just not involved in this story. They're not in this community. There's a few, and there is a white student who comes into Precious' class later in the film, but for the most part it simply is not relevant to Precious' world. She lives in a majority black community with problems related to such communities.

As I said before, Lee Daniels does not portray it any differently. He puts it on the screen as the situation actually is. No need to be bitter that you can't see yourself onscreen in a major, well done dramatic piece for once.

Oct 27 - 04:52 PM

Steve Winston

I remember when Longtime Companion came out, Vincent Canby complained because it was about affluent white guys who live in Manhattan & go to Fire Island %u2014 because AIDS strikes poor, non-Anglo people, too.

guess what? every movie doesn't have to be about everybody. This film takes its subject from a black perspective, and does so powerfully. This reviewer seems hellbent on not being touched by what he saw, so he picks nits.

Oct 30 - 03:49 PM

brandi cryer

Well its gotten great reception overseas, so to say its not meant for other audiences is ridiculous. Yes it was written from one perspective, but that doesn't mean everyone can't enjoy it no matter their race.

Oct 31 - 09:06 AM

Andrew Reichel

When this film wins Oscars, I'll laugh in your face.

Nov 2 - 08:38 AM

jacob bill

when this film doesn't, i will laugh in yours

Nov 2 - 08:46 AM

Rachel Billington

Andrew R. is laughing, not you Jacob.

Dec 12 - 06:32 AM

Aaron Simler

Very incisive review.

Nov 2 - 10:11 AM

C Weeks

What a bunch of self righteous, self masturbatory, elitist, pseudo-hipster (and racist) snobs. Will you ever look back on this and see how retarded you are?

How dare you idiots place your egotistical selves into someone's shoes you would NEVER be able to walk in and then claim superiority.

Nov 2 - 07:23 PM

Tom Elce

Playing the race card for a movie that proudly features an illiterate, abused, overweight black character with kids who steals and eats buckets of fried chicken. How incredibly intelligent and well-considered of you.

Seriously, this movie looks so chock-full of urban stereotypes that it's unbelievable. The only apparent reason for people thinking its great is the relentless misery it seems to show off.

Maybe I'll feel different when I see the film, but it's always going to be comical listening to "you're a racist" responses of movies that perpetuate multiple stereotypes - and all in a single character no less.

Nov 5 - 08:39 AM

brandi cryer

It's not stereotypical, its a composite of many girls that Sapphire taught in Harlem. She's illiterate, overweight and abused but that's not exclusive to blacks. She steals the chicken because she is made to cook for her mother and its not like she can afford to dine at a fancy place.

The race discussion came about not because of the movie, but because people were saying "white people don't get it," as if you have to be black to understand these problems. But you'll definitely have to see the movie - or you can read the book - to understand.

Nov 5 - 04:28 PM

will stamp

this race discussion is stupid.

that's my two cents.

Nov 2 - 09:13 PM

Tom Elce

Every stereotype has at least a minor element of truth in it, but that doesn't mean that they aren't in fact stereotypes. It'd be interesting to see what else the full film labels Precious and her immediate family members with outside of the aforementioned traits of Precious and the laziness and abusiveness of her mother - you know, aside from the fantasies of being white and resentment of whites that Precious feels. If all the character has about her are these things, the movie would very much be perpetuating stereotypes by not giving her character anymore depth.

I think that if all these character traits were played for laughs then people would be calling them offensive and, yes, stereotypical. Hence why I think the relentless misery pimped by the film seems to be the primary reason for all the thumbs up.

Not sure how I feel about the "white people don't get it" line of discussion, considering that the bulk of the gushing praise for Precious has been from liberal white critics. Meanwhile, both Gonzalez's review and that of Armond White are non-white perspectives on the movie - and they aren't too complimentary.

In answer to your labelling of Gonzalez's review as "horrible," I'd have to disagree considering how Gonzalez lays out his argument and reasons for loathing the film by referencing specifics of the movie itself - which is essentially what a good review should do. Hint: he doesn't need to reinforce anyone else's beliefs about the film but his own, though you're welcome to yours. (Incidentally, care to point me in the direction of positive reviews of this film that you also think are terrible?)

And I'll definitely be seeing the film at some point, it's too widely-discussed to miss, odious or not.

Nov 6 - 06:53 AM

Michael Lis-Sette

Armond White is hardly a strong movie critic.

Nov 17 - 07:11 PM

Eddie Money

ed gonzalez is solid.

Nov 15 - 02:58 PM

joe davis

y'all ignant

Nov 23 - 11:57 AM

Tadeusz Deregowski

Excellent review. The film is awful: the charactersa are grptesque, the whole thing utterly tasteless. I felt so dirty after watching it I had to have a shower. It gave me that "why can't they just exterminate the lot of them" feeling.

Nov 23 - 06:19 PM

Andrew Moore

Your comment truly offends me.

How nice it must be, to sit high in your false castle. Looking down at the underlings wallowing in the dirt, beneath you.

Perhaps the reason we have stories like precious in this world, is because people like you, could not care less to help those in need.

Feb 4 - 07:37 AM

Alex B

Spot on tomelce.

Dec 2 - 01:56 PM

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