Word: scene
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...story of Claireece Precious Jones, an obese and pregnant teenager whose life so far has been filled with nothing but unrelenting private abuse and systemic public neglect. But to be the moviegoer sniveling over Precious' miseries seemed akin to being the bystander engaging in histrionics at the scene of a train wreck instead of trying to do something, anything. (See the top 10 movies...
...that's only the second or third chapter in a story whose brutal revelations come at regular intervals. A riveting scene near the end of the movie - with Mary, Precious and a social worker played by a makeup-free Mariah Carey (who should work for Daniels every chance she gets) - is as powerful as anything on film this year. (Look for other stealth casting, including Lenny Kravitz and Sherri Shepherd.) Because Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are executive producers, you might expect the sort of classic inspirational arc they both favor. But Winfrey and Perry aren't the creative forces...
...maybe we're uncertain about whether Ms. Rain is just an extended version of Precious' frequent and vivid fantasies. Daniels shoots Sidibe onstage at the Apollo, as well as magically acting out a scene with Mary from Vittorio De Sica's Two Women and receiving a scarf as a talisman from a red-clad fairy godmother (played by former Essence magazine editor Susan L. Taylor). These sequences have a joyous Wizard of Oz energy to them, and they open the door into Precious' mind in a way even Sapphire couldn...
...violation. The entire show is uncomfortable in its emotional, if not spatial, proximity—its intensity dull and ever-present, though not entirely unbearable. “We need to feel what we’re seeing is real,” shouts a male character in scene five (“The Camera Loves You”) at a different but similarly exposed incarnation of this original female character. “It isn’t just acting, it’s far more exacting than acting... We’re talking reality...
Napier is sexy but painfully conflicted internally; the basic vulnerability she established at the very beginning lingers throughout the show. As the voiceless artist, writhing in blood, chocolate, and saliva during scene 11 (“Untitled (100 Words)”), her body contorts, suggesting an inner beast yearning to escape. As Anne, moments of anger cause her eyes to glaze over and her mouth to froth. Such strong displays of emotion capitalize on the fuzzy space between internal and external theatrical reality...