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Believe the hype. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe is deserving of all the attention, and comedian Mo'Nique belongs on Oscar's list of supporting actress nominees. Or winners.
Be prepared, however, to be slammed back in your seat by the obstacles faced by Claireece "Precious" Jones (Sidibe), an overweight 16-year-old in 1987 Harlem.
She cannot read or write, is pregnant for the second time -- by her own father, who regularly raped her -- and lives with her poisonously angry and abusive mother (Mo'Nique). Despite her size, she might as well be invisible to society.
- Starring: Gabourey Sidibe (above), Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey
- Rating: R for child abuse, including sexual assault and pervasive language
- Web site: 'Precious'
- Opens today at the AMC-Loews at the Waterfront, Manor theater in Squirrel Hill and Cinemark Robinson.
A transfer to an alternative school helps Claireece realize she is precious and deserving of love and a far better life. That doesn't exempt her from one final "Why me?" blow, but the movie ends on notes of hope and happiness that seemed utterly impossible 109 minutes earlier.
A star is born in Sidibe, and Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey (as a welfare case worker) have never looked plainer -- no makeup, no figure-flattering costumes, no Hollywood hair, heels or nails -- and yet never been better.
Off screen, Sidibe speaks with a light, bright voice that is nothing like Claireece's low rumble. She doesn't hide layers of pain behind an impassive face or a body she tries to make disappear despite its bulk. Sidibe is so unlike Claireece that they seem like two unrelated people, the mark of an exemplary actress.
In the case of director Lee Daniels, it turns out the Rolling Stones were right. You can't always get what (or who) you want, but you get what you need.
Helen Mirren, who had starred in Daniels' "Shadowboxer," originally was scheduled to play the social worker but had to withdraw due to another commitment and that's how Carey got the gig. Daniels said he approached Oprah Winfrey about playing the mother (the media queen says she knows nothing about that) but landed Mo'Nique, who said she modeled the monstrous character on an abusive brother.
Winfrey and fellow powerhouse Tyler Perry came on board as executive producers and they are making sure audiences aren't frightened away by the mere description of the story.
Rounding out the cast are Paula Patton as a sympathetic teacher, Sherri Shepherd as a school receptionist and Lenny Kravitz as a nurse. Mary J. Blige contributes a song she wrote and recorded called "I Can See in Color."
Geoffrey Fletcher adapted the novel "Push" written by a woman called simply Sapphire, and he knows when to provide some relief to the audience with Claireece's lively and telling fantasies.
Sapphire came to Pittsburgh in November 1997, a year after the novel came out, and headlined a benefit of local artists committed to social change. She told the Post-Gazette that "Push" was a story of hope and triumph, of Precious starting at a horrendous place and climbing out of the abyss.
At times, it seems she and we will be trapped in the physical and literal darkness of her life. But literacy, a caring teacher, friends for the first time in her life and a mother's love -- hers, for her children -- set her and us free.
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