A couple weeks ago, Stephanie reccomended a film called Precious. I don't see films too often, so I usually don't know what's out, but I had heard of this film from my sister who is very up to date with this medium. As we waited for it to begin, we looked it up and found out that it was featured in the Sundance, Toronto, and Cannes Film Festivals. I then thought, "ok, it'll be worth it" and it DEFINETLY was!

Precious features an obese, low-income young woman named Clarisse Precious Jones and the unbelievable struggles she faces. The first glimpse of her terrible life came when her principal find out she is pregnant with her second child and suspends her. When Precious gets home things seem like they are going to get much worse. A technique I thought was very interesting was that when she was washing dishes and being verbally abused. The camera then did quick clips of various things, from the frying pan, to Precious' face, to the mother. It would move very fast-pased morphing into one entity. It was amazing how this technique could create so much tension and suspense without actually showing anything.

Another technique special to the film was the use of transporting Precious from her bad situation to a good one. At first I called this flashback but clearly its clearly not related to any point of her life, but merely a point of her dreams. The dreams were beautiful and hopeful but at the same time, depressing just because you knew it wasn't true. It managed to play on (all of) the viewer's emotions at once.

The story line of Precious is beautiful, horrifying, thrilling, moving, and inspiring. I laughed at some parts, teared up in other parts, and walked away truly grateful for my own life. I reccomend every one to see it for themselves because I'm sure my review would not do it justice.