Further to yesterday’s discussion of the film’s critical reception, Armond White’s furious pan of “Precious” is already gaining notoriety for its more attention-seeking flourishes.
It’s hard to find much justification for his claim that “Norbit” and “Marci X” are “excellent” films about the black experience, and his suggestion that the film is being principally championed by “patronizing white folk” is a cheap provocation.
But look past his trademark perversity, and there’s sincere, articulate anger in the review that deserves to prompt debate, even if you couldn’t agree less:
Perry and Winfrey may think Precious is serious, but Daniels is hoisting his freak flag. He gets off on degradation. Flashbacks to Precious’ rape contain a curious montage of grease, sweat, bacon and Vaseline. Later, he intercuts a shot of pig’s feet cooking on a stove with Precious being humped while her mother watches from a corner. Another misjudged scene recreates De Sica’s B&W Two Women—a half-camp trashing of motherhood that compounds the problem of cultural alienation. So does the film’s Ebonics credit sequence and the scene of Precious rotating amidst a bombardment of success icons—Martina Arroyo, MLK, Shirley Chisholm—to which she either relates or is ignorant. This incoherence should not pass for sociology.
“Norbit.” “Click.” “The Time Machine.” “Life.” What do all of these dreadful films have in common? They are Oscar nominees because of the category of Best Makeup!