Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (***1/4)

A small film that got a lot of attention after getting noticed at the Sundance Film Festival, this turns out to have a straightforward story whose novelty lies in the scarcity of movies about people like Claireece Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), an obese 11^th grader living with her mother in a Harlem apartment, in 1987. It is worth seeing, in part, for that novelty and the good performances, especially by Sidibe and Mo'Nique, as her mother. (Mariah Carey is a pleasant surprise as a social worker, too.) Precious, who is essentially illiterate, has just been placed in an “alternative” education program after getting pregnant, for the second time, by her mother’s boyfriend. The mother character has, essentially, no redeeming features; she is a walking (but mostly sitting and watching television) argument for welfare reform, ordering Precious around like a servant, reacting to her daughter’s rape-induced pregnancy by blaming Precious for stealing her man.

You can watch this movie and get extremely depressed. Precious has nothing good in her life; she has fantasies, but few aspirations and little hope. Or you can watch her, placed with a caring teacher (Paula Patton), and see it as a an inspirational story showing that anyone can be redeemed. (The voiceovers, taking the place of the first-person narrative in the novel, suggest that, at least the illiteracy will be remedied.)

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viewed 12/28/13 on Netflix DVD; posted 1/10/14

The Orphanage (***)

The adoptive parents of a young boy with AIDS (Belén Rueda) buys the wife’s childhood home in this psychological horror film from Spain. It’s not the sort of movie where heads are getting sliced off, but rather the kind where something mysterious is going on. The boy’s imaginary friends, already a source of concern, begin to occupy much of his time, and the elaborate games they play unnerve his mother. His drawings of them seem uncannily particular, and when he disappears in a cave one day there are other footsteps besides his. Is this a ghost story, or one of madness, and how does it connect to the house’s days as a home for orphans?

This reminded me of The Others and older movies in feel. It has a couple of genuinely scary moments but more often maintains a creepy sense of foreboding. The use of a lighthouse and other visual motifs is effective. There is very little dependence on special effects; the story builds with subtlety, though in terms or horror it flags somewhat in the middle. The ending doesn’t pack quite the same shock as The Others, or The Sixth Sense, but fits the movie, which in any case works well as a drama.


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The Dying Gaul (***1/4)

This misleadingly titled but intriguing suspense drama is a triangular tale involving a screenwriter, a studio executive, and his idle wife.

This unfortunately titled suspense drama is neither about someone who’s dying or Gaulish. The Dying Gaul turns out to be the title of a screenplay. When the studio executive played by Campbell Scott asks, why title it that, I couldn’t help but agree. The script (the one in the movie) appears to be the story of the screenwriter (Peter Sarsgaard) and his (male) lover, who’s just died of AIDS. The third character in the story is the executive’s idle wife (Patricia Clarkson), who’s really at the center of things. I’m being vague about the plot because it’s better not to know, but it’s an intriguing tale of unintended consequences. The way the suspense builds reminded me of Match Point. This, the directorial debut of screenwriter Craig Lucas (The Secret Lives of Dentists), is less polished, but certainly merits more than its meager release on a couple dozen screens (nationally). The jarring, dissonant score by minimalist pioneer Steve Reich is also noteworthy.

IMDb link

posted 9/17/13