Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Precious (2009) - Overcoming adversity showcased in gripping drama

8/10/2023

Precious (2009) - Overcoming adversity showcased in gripping drama

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year

New-comer Gabourey Sidibe in the title role wears a crown and butterfly wings on this poster for Lee Daniels' Precious

Precious doesn't have an enviable life: She's 16 years old; her weight is that of a small elephant; she's pregnant for the second time in her life; and the child is her own father's.

Precious is written by Geoffrey Fletcher (Violet & Daisy (2011)), based on the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire (The Kid (2011)), and co-produced and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer (2005)).

The girl's mother is one of the meanest, ugliest characters to go down in cinema history, played eminently by Mo'Nique (Blackbird (2014)). Gabourey Sidibe (Antebellum (2020)) is terrific too, as are other female actors in Precious: Paula Patton (Warcraft (2016)) is beautiful and excellent. The dream sequences make us 100 % aligned with the trialed teenager and her dreams of escape. Despite the grim realities, this is also a film with hope, even though I could have wished for that extra little oomph in the ending.

Precious is hard to forget. It puts things in perspective. It is a beautiful and fantastic film.

The Butler/Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) - Whitaker and Winfrey shine in Dainels' cathartic, insightful historic drama
The Paperboy (2012) - Daniels' off-putting and interesting Florida-yarn huffs and puffs

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. $

Box office: 63.6 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 6.36 times its cost)

[Precious premiered 16 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place from October 2007 - January 2008 in New York. The film opened #12 to a 1.8 mil. $ first weekend in 18 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #3 and in 1,003 theaters (different weeks), grossing 47.5 mil. $ (74.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 2.7 mil. $ (4.2 %) and the UK with 1.9 mil. $ (3 %). The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique) and Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to The Hurt Locker, Actress to Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, Director to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker and Editing also to The Hurt Locker. It also won 1/4 BAFTA nominations, 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 5 Independent Spirit awards, an AFI award and a National Board of Review award, among countless other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. The film sold more than 1.5 mil. DVD's in its first week of release in North America. Daniels returned with The Paperboy (2012). Sidibe returned in Yelling to the Sky (2011); Mo'Nique in Steppin: The Movie (2009). Precious is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Precious?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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8/10/2023

Precious (2009) - Overcoming adversity showcased in gripping drama

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