Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

Clareece “Precious” Jones’ 16 years on this planet have not been an unalloyed pleasure. She’s dangerously obese, taciturn, nearly illiterate, and pregnant with her second child by her rapist father (the first has Down’s syndrome). She’s forced to wait on her detestable, domineering, poisonously angry welfare mother (comedienne Mo’Nique, in a shattering portrayal that won her an Oscar), who, astoundingly, blames Precious (a fine Gabourey Sidibe) for “stealing” Dad from her. But there’s an intelligence behind those expressionless eyes, and when she’s offered the chance by a dedicated teacher (Paula Patton) to attend an alternative education school, she takes the first steps toward climbing out of the horror movie she lives in. Lee Daniels, balancing sympathy and repugnance, tells this simultaneously heartrending and heartwarming story without manipulation, and leavens her relentlessly bleak world with colorful fantasy sequences. But the film’s true merits lie in the performances of its nearly all-female cast, including a very believable Mariah Carey as a down-to-earth social worker. It’s almost enough to forgive Glitter. Almost. See this gritty, uplifting, and blisteringly raw movie; it’ll make you a better person.