In New York City's Harlem circa 1987, Claireece Precious Jones endures unimaginable hardships in her young life and been pregnant with her second child, she is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
A film full of life and love, well-meaning and, judging by the reaction in the US, a genuine and important phenomenon that says act - don't dwell - on your dreams.
It is a classical tragedy in the Greek sense, and runs its characters (and viewers) through a wringer of pity and terror on the way to its devastating catharsis.
The bottom line is that you've never seen anything quite like this -- in its highs, its lows, its gaffes, its embarrassments or its uplift.
Boston Globe
November 24, 2009
Avoiding the conventional tricks of lifting an audience up, the movie looks into this girl's wide, brown face and her bleak little life and sees, despite everything, a reason to live.
If you do watch -- and you certainly should -- you will see one of the most remarkable performances ever set to film, given by Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe.
