Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

“Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire” is a scalding, relentless drama that plays as near-horror, but grounded in stark reality. All the more horrifying, that reality. We follow 16-year-old Harlem resident Clarice “Precious” Jones (newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), who is black, poor, obese, abused, lonely, and desperate to crawl out of her cramped-apartment hell. Mother (Mo’Nique) is a seemingly soulless monster: A Welfare addict/couch potato who is jealous that her boyfriend impregnated -- twice -- Precious. The man is Precious’ father. This is a shockingly violent, no-safety-bars emotional bruising, as memorable as 2000‘s “Requiem for a Dream.” It knocks you to the floor, and asks you to get up again. To keep watching. So many films feel pre-packaged. This feels real. You can smell that rotting, peeling apartment wallpaper. Chalk that up to director Lee Daniels. May he make many more films. Mo’Nique and Sidibe are shocking -- with the former’s apparent evil and the latter’s pain -- and so good I forgot they are actors. The ending is a wonder of film-making, a small ray of hope that still burns. One of the year’s best. A