Movie Review: Precious (2009, Directed by Lee Daniels)

Some great films overwhelm us with their uplifting spirit. Others give us a strong dose of cold, harsh reality. Precious, based on a novel by Sapphire and funded by Oprah Winfrey, manages to do both. We enter the world of Precious, an African American teenage girl living in Harlem. Precious, played in one of the most harrowing performances of the year by Gabby Sidibe, is overweight, pregnant for the second time by her abusive father, illiterate, and living with her monstrously violent mother (played, in another remarkable performance, by Mo’Nique). Precious follows the story of this underprivileged teenager rising out of her unfortunate circumstances to find success and inner peace in life.

A story such as this could be presented in a couple of ways. On one hand, this story could be told in a traditional Hollywood manner. Precious would rise above her hellish life to accomplish great things with the help of her inspiring (and, probably, white, teachers). On the other hand, the story could embrace the ambiguities and complexities of life. There would be no simple villains or perfect heroes, just a young woman in a serious of tragic circumstances. I am happy to report that the movie tends towards the latter approach, although a bit too much of the former approach creeps into the film for my personal taste.

I must say that watching Sidibe and Mo’Nique in action was the film’s greatest pleasure for me. Both actresses portray their characters with beauty and truth. I was also pleasantly surprised by some of the celebrity supporting players, including Mariah Carrey and Lenny Kravitz. The uncompromising nature of these performances more than made up for some of the film’s annoyingly melodramatic flourishes.

During the holiday season, it is always vital to remember how many people live in America with so little. Precious reminds us that the American dream is certainly not alive and well for all.

Movie Review: An Education (2009, Directed by Lone Scherfig)

The spirit of Audrey Hepburn lives on through the truly transcendent performance of Carey Mulligan in Lone Scherfig’s An Education. At times, I forgot I was watching the young British actress portray a strong willed English high school girl, and instead thought I was watching the late Hepburn in Roman Holiday or Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Mulligan’s performance radiates with the kind of sophistication and subtle energy previously associated with the great starlets of the classic Hollywood era.

An Education tells the story of Jenny, a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London. Her conservative parents have clear expectations for her future. She will go to Oxford and take a teaching position. Into her world of Latin grammar, Jane Eyre essays, and youth orchestra practices marches David, played with incredible sliminess by Peter Sarsgaard. David, nearly twice the age of Jenny, brings Jenny into the whirlwind world of 1960s swinging London, complete with fancy nightclubs, hot jazz, and French existentialism. Sarsgaard’s character is the kind of man who leads innocent girls to their demises with his suave sophistication and plentiful pocketbook. Jenny falls for his act at first, but begins to question her attraction to the sleazy David. An Education is set on the cusp of major developments in women’s rights and Jenny is no longer content to simply follow the whims of whatever attractive man she might find herself entranced with.

The charm of An Education is the way it adroitly deals with Jenny’s indecision. We inherently understand the relationship between Jenny and David as profoundly inappropriate, yet understand why Jenny would be enticed by the world he promises her. We see Jenny’s ambivalence reflected in the radiant face of Mulligan, who brings such subtle emotions to her character that a second and third viewing is arguably required to fully comprehend them all.

Scherfig’s film is not perfect. The ending feels a bit too easy, considering the complexity of the weighty material that came before. The music feels too heavy handed and the actors portraying Jenny’s parents make performance decisions that are often too “large” for my taste. Nevertheless, An Education features two of the most exciting performances in recent memory, and the script, written by High Fidelity author Nick Hornby, is teeming with life and vivid language. An Education is one of the most intelligent and engaging films of the year.