Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

In Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father, and at home she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret – she can't read.

Broadly well-received on the strength of its performances — Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe in particular drew nearly unanimous praise — the film nonetheless divided critics sharply on whether its accumulation of suffering amounted to honest storytelling or calculated misery-tourism. Supporters saw a film willing to go somewhere American movies rarely do; detractors argued it exploited its subject matter and flattened any space for the viewer to think independently.