Precious (2009)

Precious was, in a way, a strange mix of film styles. Some scenes were brutal and dark, others veered towards the comic and the absurd, while others again appealed to "human drama" (the kind that is supposed to be invigorating for the soul) and stories that have "human interest". That a film contains changes in atmosphere and style need not be a problem, but in this case it was. Precious was a slightly confusing experience, as the different styles did not seem to be intentionally disparate: this lack of coherent style did not shed light on anything, nor did the different "parts" communicate among themselves. This is not to say that Precious was a bad film. It just wasn't a very thought-out one (or if it was, its play with style was too subtle for this viewer). I can add that some tricks were familiar. It's not unusual to see a character dealing with a tough situation and it is so tough for her that she escapes into a dream world of her own. This is conventional stuff. The issues I had with Precious is that I had a hard time swallowing both the dark parts and the more upbeat stuff. I had a feeling somewhere in the back of my head that I might be tricked and that I'd better watch out.
Precious tells the story about a black teenager who is sexually abused at home and when she gets pregnant for the second time, she is suspended from school. She joins an alternative schooling program. It's a bleak story.
The scenes I liked best were sort of in between: these were scenes in which Precious (the girl) interacted with people who were not monsters but more complex beings, such as a social worker (played by Mariah Carey, whom I did not recognize).
I have a hard time expressing what I found problematic. Maybe Precious tries to hard to be "authentic" and maybe it paints with too broad streaks when introducing more positive elements into Precious' life. And while the closing credits have faded out, I try not to think about Oprah. But I do. The fact that quite a few critics call this film "inspiring" and that it "engages our empathy" might reveal something of my predicament here.