I'm feeling some kinda ways about the new movie, Precious, and the jury is still out over whether I want to plunk down my $10.50 to check it out. I mean, I get that the movie, about a Harlem teenager who is physically, mentally, and sexually abused by her parents and ostracized for being obese, has incredible buzz and folks are already whispering that a few of the cast members should get their gowns ready for next year's Oscars. And if Oprah's co-signing it, it has to have some kind of context and deeper meaning, seeing as she was the executive producer of a few flicks I liked that were equally disturbing/revelatory—Beloved, The Wedding, Their Eyes Were Watching God. But the idea of watching a mom try to bash her daughter's brains out with a frying pan, or a father make babies with his child, or an overweight kid suffer seemingly insurmountable nastiness from practically everyone she comes in contact with, doesn't exactly float my boat. From the moment I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter, I couldn't stand to see children suffer—still can't read newspapers stories about it, can't watch it on the news, gotta turn away from it when it shows up on my favorite TV shows. It's a no go.
What's more, I'm having a hard time supporting a flick that shows yet another poor, uneducated, rough-mouthed, hard-living black mom working through her screwed up pathologies. (Actually, usually, black moms aren't shown in movies at all, are they? Mostly as side-kicks who play the back while their super husbands save the world/have an affair/do something deep/find their way back home. But I digress.) I'm just afraid that folks with take the snapshot the film gives of a certain segment of the African American community and make it the sole picture of black motherhood. We all know better. Unfortunately, though, not enough folks—of all races, sadly, even our own—know this picture isn't in all of our albums.
Anyhoo, seems like somebody—or a whole lot of somebodies—were willing to see it; Precious made close to $2 million this weekend, even though it was shown in only 18 theaters nationwide. That's considered an impressive showing for an independent film that got hardly any theater play. And I have to admit that I'm curious to see Mo'Nique completely flip the script in her role as Precious's abusive mom, a role the late-night talk show host told me was a difficult but rewarding star turn for her movie career (I interviewed her for a story that ended up on the cover of Uptown magazine, see up top).
I don't know—help me out, sweeties: Have any of you seen it? If you haven't, do you plan to? Holla back!
AND, if you so please, come on back tomorrow to check out a new Home Made Love recipe written by my sweetie pie, Mari. She's going to hip you to her favorite dessert. Please, please, please show my baby some comment love!
In the meantime, for those of you who haven't seen previews for Precious, check out this one...
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