'Precious' gets the bum's rush from Armond White

"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," Lee Daniels' searing film about a sexually abused teenage girl that opens Friday, has been racking up film festival awards, Oscar buzz and critical plaudits for months -- it already has a sky-high 87 Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. But the movie, which has the heavyweight endorsement of both Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, two icons of the African American creative community, just received a nasty thrashing from another black icon, the New York Press' wildly politically incorrect Armond White, one of the few remaining high-profile African American film critics (he's currently head of the prestigious New York Critics Circle).

White is famously contrarian in his tastes, so I'm not saying that he's going to be leading a momentous critical backlash against the film. But it is rare to see an African American commentator not only take apart a gifted black filmmaker like Daniels, but trash Oprah and Perry in the process. White doesn't mince words, calling the film "a con job" that "naively treats Precious' exhibition of ghetto tragedy and female disempowerment as if it were raw truth." Then he really unloads on everyone:

"Winfrey, Perry and Daniels make an unholy triumvirate. They come together at some intersection of race exploitation and opportunism. These two media titans -- plus one shrewd pathology pimp -- use 'Precious' to rework Booker T. Washington's early 20th century manifesto 'Up From Slavery' into extreme drama for the new millennium: Up From Incest, Child Abuse, Teenage Pregnancy, Poverty and AIDS. Regardless of its narrative details about class and gender, 'Precious is an orgy of prurience.... Not since 'Birth of a Nation' has a mainstream movie demeaned the idea of black American life as much as 'Precious.' Fully of brazenly racist cliches (Precious steals and eats an entire bucket of fried chicken) it is a sociological horror show. Offering racist hysteria masquerading as social sensitivity, it's been acclaimed on the international film festival circuit that usually disdains movies about black Americans as somehow inartistic and unworthy."  

White is especially disturbed by the involvement of Winfrey and Perry, who have been very open about their own experiences with childhood abuse. He views their much-discussed triumph over their own personal travails as exploitation, arguing that the movie's "self-pity and recrimination" is seen as an endorsement of Winfrey and Perry's own backstories, saying: "Promoting this movie isn't just a way for Perry and Winfrey to aggrandize themselves, it helps convert their private agendas into heavily hyped social preoccupation."

I think White goes a little overboard, since it's hardly the first time Oprah in particular has promoted a film or a book about family abuse and dysfunction -- she's made a career out of it. But it will fascinating to see how black audiences react to Daniels' stark drama. As my colleague John Horn pointed out today, Lionsgate, which is releasing the film, is going after both middle-class black audiences and art-house cineastes, opening the film here at both the Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15-theater complex as well as the highbrow Landmark and ArcLight theaters, hoping to score with two very disparate audiences.

It's a tough needle to thread. In fact, Lionsgate tried a similar strategy with its recent LeBron James basketball film, "More Than a Game," and came up short, never connecting with either young urban sport fans or art-house documentary lovers. After a month in theaters, the film has only made $829,000, a poor showing for a movie that James promoted with wall-to-wall appearances on every major TV talk show imaginable. The themes in "Precious" certainly have the potential to speak a huge disparate audience, but I suspect that, even with its A-list endorsers, it may do better with Oscar voters than rank and file African American moviegoers.

Armond White is clearly a non-believer. He ends his review by saying that some of the film's most emotional scenes "might have been met howls of skeptical laughter at Harlem's Magic Johnson theater. Black audiences would surely have seen the comedy in this ludicrous, overloaded situation, whereas too many white film habitues casually enjoy it for the sense of superiority -- and relief -- it allows them to feel. Some people like being conned."  

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Comments

[billyjoe]

Armond also trashed "Dreamgirls," and Jennifer Hudson went on to win an Oscar.

[DR]

The "truth" sucks.... Even when it appears in a medium like this which has a way of appealing to some by the degrading of others.
I think that they have a jewell of a film here and that it truefully reflects one of those hidden secrets within our homogenous society.
Having worked for many years in the public services sector I have seen individuals like this who have so much going against them/place on them by society's lack of acceptance as well as their family abuse.
Good movie to see I say. let those that feel smug do so at their own risk and for those that feel uplifted by the revealing of one of lifes tragedies so be it.

[Faith]

I haven't seen the movie, but I read the book it was based on, ages ago. "Push" was shocking and disturbing, and there were times when I didn't want to finish it. I can't imagine myself being able to stomach seeing that abuse portrayed on the big screen. All the same, I never doubted for a moment that there were young women living lives exactly like Precious's, and no matter how disturbing that story was, I never dared to think it was a story that did not deserve to be told. So what if I was uncomfortable with the subject matter, or cringed at the stereotypical behavior of the characters? My discomfort with or embarrasment over poverty, sex, abuse, and fried chicken does not mean that I get to dictate who get's to tell their story, when and why. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are trying to put a face on the vast sea of children who have either survived abuse, or who are dealing with it today, and that is important work. If Armond White feels uncomfortable with the reality that "Push" set's forth, then maybe he needs to join me and my small children for a cup of cocoa and a screening of Disney's "The Princess and the Frog."

[Ben K]

Wow, very surprising. I really don't know if I'll like this movie or not, will make my own opinion when it comes to Madison in two weeks.

[james johnston]

Not suprised. Everything Oprah does is a con job. From her book club to the school in south Africa that ran into hot water over aledged abuses. Oprah is not a great insightful person, money is always the bottom line with her. Monique is also a terrible person. Anyone that saw 'Charm School' knows she could be hypocritical, narrow-minded and down right mean spirited. 'Precious' also sounds over-hyped. What kind of small Sundance film stars Monique, Mariah Carey, and is produced by Oprah Winfrey? It sounds like big studio film making to me.

[Rob]

It should be noted that Armond White is, on the topic of African-Americans in movies....what's a polite word....insane. In the past, he has reviled Samuel L. Jackson as someone whose limited range prevents him from playing "human beings with any social grace," he has trashed Halle Berry in Monster's Ball, Denzel Washington in Training Day and Will Smith in Ali , calling all three examples of "self-abasement," while decrying the lack of Oscar nominations for Vivica A. Fox in Two Can Play That Game and Lisa Raye in The Players Club. If your taste lines up with that, then by all means skip Precious.

He's got this old, backwards, loony, sad notion that any African-American actor who plays a character who isn't either a role model or an image of "black heroism and rectitude" is a race traitor. It's nuts. And it's sad.

[Marc]

LA DOLCE PRECIOUS.
I'm very surprised and saddened to hear that a movie critic of Armond White's stature is naive enough not to realize that cinema has not changed in 100 years. Precious's story is no less or more than a contemporary version of the original damsel in distress story. That story is the movie business, and will always be the movie business.

[Tish]

What exactly is meant in the last paragraph

[Armond White is clearly a non-believer. He ends his review by saying that some of the film's most emotional scenes "might have been met howls of skeptical laughter at Harlem's Magic Johnson theater.]

Why would it be met with "hows of skeptical laughter" at this location? Is that not stereotypical in itself? To assume that a certain audience because of their location/demographics would not understand or get the emotional scenes?

[ginasings]

I saw the clip and instantly started crying. To Insinuate that black people are not sensitive is being insenstive! The fact that this movie is portrayed in an arena that is often swept under the rug is something the whole world needs to see. yes there are people that have experienced such degrading treatment within their homes in the Black community. Yes it's in all races too. However, there is always some stigma with revealing the plights of Blacks but everyone wants to be understood. To do that, the stories must be told and in a truthful manner. Yes movies may go a little over the top. Oftentimes they are based on the plight of someone's life. Oprah and Tyler have experienced some abuse and I commend them for supporting such a movie that depicts the very thing we continue to hide to this very day! I cannot wait for the nationwide release! Congrats to all who had a hand in this powerful piece!

[shawntivia cobb]

i truly luv the book i cryed at some parts it`s the best it opens your ears and your mind