Precious (2009)

* * *

This was a very disturbing film which gave a very open look into a troubled life. For the title character life seems to keep getting progressively worse almost to the point where whenever something bad happens the audience does not get surprised any more.

The acting is strong although an emotional response is hard to elicit as everything is verging on the absurd for a vast majority of the audience. To be honest some of the strongest performances were by the girls in Precious’s class as I believe they would remind everyone watching of people from their schools. Mo’Nique (who won an Oscar for portraying Precious’s mother) was quite incredible, playing a monster of a mother who is both vulnerable and vicious.

There seem to be parts of this film which are pointless, from characters to scenes, and they are just thrown in there. The ending especially, although it was probably meant to be the typical Indie understated ending, did seem to just cause the film to slowly roll to a finish. It was left almost as they were leading to a sequel because it hinted towards the future Precious could now have, but I seriously doubt this was the intent of the film makers.