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

The film is a great American story that moves from despair to inspiration through the hope offered by two women in Precious's life. It highlights powerful performances, especially by the debut lead and supporting cast, in depicting a girl's pain and resilience.

The critic finds the film a raw and powerful emotional journey of self-acceptance and hope that is dramatically a triumph despite some technical flaws. They single out the lead performance by Gabourey Sidibe as undetectable acting that fully draws the viewer into her life.

The adaptation avoids preachy realism and mixes styles to sing as well as howl about a life of horror and dysfunction. It is unabashedly populist in emotional appeal while challenging audience complacency as genuine art.

The critic describes the film as a bracing new-style weepie that is more uplifting than depressing and praises its truthful depiction of real life. They single out Mo’Nique’s performance as the monstrous mother as one of the best screen performances ever seen.

The critic calls the film an overwhelming and masterful Sundance entry with a grim, disturbing story of merciless degradations, crystalline performances (especially from newcomers Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique), and strong direction and technical work that elevates the material.

The review calls the film compelling and inspirational despite its upsetting content, highlighting the electrifying debut performance of Gabourey Sidibe as the resilient teen. It singles out the unusual story and strong direction for making the portrait of hardship stand out at the festival.

The critic finds the film deeply affecting and full of compassion, with strong performances from the leads, though it leans more on emotion than artistic depth. The adaptation is praised for balancing bleak subject matter with moments of humour and resilience in the central character's story.

The film has been treated with excessive reverence but features a powerful lead performance by Gabourey Sidibe as an abused teenager. It has raucous energy and a brilliant performance from Mo'Nique but shifts awkwardly between nightmare and sitcom-ish uplift.

The critic dismisses the film as an impeccably acted piece of trash and exploitation that strokes liberal audiences’ sense of righteous indignation with lurid misery and condescending fantasy sequences, while failing to meaningfully engage with its social themes.

The film provokes ennui and dyspepsia through its campy characters, lurid melodrama and celebrity cameos. It mixes class tourism, gothic sexploitation and embarrassing elements in its domestic scenes.

The film is one of the best of the year thanks to its honest portrayal of Precious's brutal life and hard-won hope. The critic singles out Gabourey Sidibe's breakthrough performance as the element that makes audiences cheer rather than pity the character.

The critic calls it a haunting, brutal yet affecting and three-dimensional tale that is very powerful and difficult to stomach. Standout praise goes to the performances of Gabourey Sidibe and especially Mo'Nique, along with solid direction from Lee Daniels.

The film is described as compelling and harrowing yet stylishly told and earnestly acted, transcending potential obstacles through moving performances from Sidibe, Mo'Nique and Carey. It is a far from pleasant but ultimately worthwhile experience.

The film offers a visually textured but familiar and occasionally manipulative story of triumph over adversity. The critic singles out Gabourey Sidibe's intimate, expressive performance as the element that moves audiences despite the surrounding hype and marketing.

The review notes the film is skilfully made with relief from emotional extremes via fantasy sequences and strong, stoic performances from Sidibe and a demonic Mo'Nique. It questions the graphic abuse and redemption payoff but concludes it just about succeeds due to humanity and generosity of intent.

The critic praises the bravery in handling grim subject matter with effective humor and the fiercely compelling acting from Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique. However, the film is faulted as an uneven mishmash of genres with ill-fitting dream sequences, stilted scripting, and pacing issues that make it feel bloated.

The critic dismisses the film as a manipulative con job that exploits liberal empathy with garish, hamfisted direction and contrived narrative despite strong lead performances from Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique. The acclaim from festivals is called puzzling given the clumsy execution and emotional exploitation.