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Earlier I admitted I was surprised that Lee Daniels did not recieve a Golden Globes director's nomination for Precious, which I once thought was a prime contender to win many of the top Oscars, including best picture. However, here's what Moviefone's Jack Mathews, a critic I respect, says about whether this film even has a shot at a best picture nomination:
"In any year before this one, no. And if the Academy hadn’t just doubled the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 this year, we wouldn’t be talking about Precious as an Oscar contender now. In fact, if director Lee Daniels had cleaned up the language a bit and eliminated an unnecessary rape clip, Precious might have found its natural home—as a movie-of-the-week on TV—and we’d be talking about its rightful fate of an Emmy winner.
"I am not convinced that Precious will make the Best Picture ballot. Most of the 6,000-plus Academy voters watch the contenders—selected for them by critics, guild nominations and box office results—at home. And as a person who saw this movie in a theater with six people, watching it alone is not easy. I don’t think Lee Daniels will receive a Directors Guild nomination; directors aren’t easily swayed by emotion and the ugly truth is that Precious is an awkwardly-directed film. The fantasy sequences are almost embarrassingly inept. I do believe Mo’Nique is a slam dunk supporting actress nominee—what she does in speaking her dialogue is more humiliating than what Halle Barre did going-for-broke in Monster’s Ball—but those who vote the novice Sidibe are voting for her character more than her performance.
"What (previous) race-conscious movies (Oscars have cited( have in common with each other but not with Precious is that they were made by established filmmakers with established actors. You can call them elitist, or job-protective, but the actors who make up the largest branch of the Academy aren’t going to go hog-wild honoring performances by non-pros, semi-pros and musicians desperate for acting careers. Mariah Carey is only great in Precious if you consider how badly she has done in previous roles (a little Glitter anyone?) or if you give her points for appearing without make-up. Otherwise, it’s a performance that could have been by any of scores of actresses. The only past Best Picture nominee with a central racial issue and a no-name cast was Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies. But Leigh himself was by then a well-established and respected director."
"In any year before this one, no. And if the Academy hadn’t just doubled the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 this year, we wouldn’t be talking about Precious as an Oscar contender now. In fact, if director Lee Daniels had cleaned up the language a bit and eliminated an unnecessary rape clip, Precious might have found its natural home—as a movie-of-the-week on TV—and we’d be talking about its rightful fate of an Emmy winner.
"I am not convinced that Precious will make the Best Picture ballot. Most of the 6,000-plus Academy voters watch the contenders—selected for them by critics, guild nominations and box office results—at home. And as a person who saw this movie in a theater with six people, watching it alone is not easy. I don’t think Lee Daniels will receive a Directors Guild nomination; directors aren’t easily swayed by emotion and the ugly truth is that Precious is an awkwardly-directed film. The fantasy sequences are almost embarrassingly inept. I do believe Mo’Nique is a slam dunk supporting actress nominee—what she does in speaking her dialogue is more humiliating than what Halle Barre did going-for-broke in Monster’s Ball—but those who vote the novice Sidibe are voting for her character more than her performance.
"What (previous) race-conscious movies (Oscars have cited( have in common with each other but not with Precious is that they were made by established filmmakers with established actors. You can call them elitist, or job-protective, but the actors who make up the largest branch of the Academy aren’t going to go hog-wild honoring performances by non-pros, semi-pros and musicians desperate for acting careers. Mariah Carey is only great in Precious if you consider how badly she has done in previous roles (a little Glitter anyone?) or if you give her points for appearing without make-up. Otherwise, it’s a performance that could have been by any of scores of actresses. The only past Best Picture nominee with a central racial issue and a no-name cast was Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies. But Leigh himself was by then a well-established and respected director."
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