DVD
REVIEW: PRECIOUS
03/06/10
Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films, arrives on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and as a digital download from Lionsgate. Starring Mo’Nique (Shadowboxer) and Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe (film debut) in “Oscar-worthy” (New York Post) performances, the film is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful story about the human capacity to grow and overcome. The film, directed by Lee Daniels (Producer of Monster’s Ball) from a screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher, based on the book ‘Push’; a novel by Sapphire, also stars Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd and musician Lenny Kravitz. Precious Jones, an inner-city high school girl, is illiterate, overweight, and pregnant… again. Naïve and abused, she responds to a glimmer of hope when a door is opened by an alternative-school teacher. She is faced with the choice to follow opportunity and test her own boundaries.
Audiences and critics nationwide have fallen in love with Precious. The film was an Official Selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard and winner of three awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. It was also the centerpiece of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival Gala Presentation, where it received the festival’s 2009 Cadillac People’s Choice Award. Precious is the only film ever to receive the Audience awards at both Sundance and Toronto. In addition, the film has been hailed as “a genuine work of art” (The New York Times), “rich with surprises” (Elle), “one very big miracle” (Associated Press), “a great American film” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) and “absolutely unforgettable” (Los Angeles Times).
Available on March 9, 2010, the DVD and Blu-ray disc feature powerful bonus materials that include audio commentary with the director, numerous featurettes, a deleted scene, an interview with author Sapphire and director Lee Daniels, Gabourey Sidibe’s audition and more. Precious is a film not to be missed.
SYNOPSIS: Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones, a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn’t know the meaning of “alternative,” but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain, Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.
VIDEO:
Widescreen (1.85:1) 16x9
AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby EX Digital
Subtitles - English Spanish
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
Audio commentary with Director Lee Daniels
“From Push to Precious” featurette
“A Precious Ensemble” featurette
“Oprah and Tyler: A Project of Passion” featurette
A Conversation with Author Sapphire and Director Lee Daniels
Deleted Scene: The Incest Survivor Meeting
Audition: Gabourey Sidibe
Reflections on Precious
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