When PUSH Comes to Hollywood

Since I saw Dakota Fanning's sci-fi thriller "Push" on Thursday, I've been trying like hell to figure out what the movie is even about. Saving the world, as usual? I guess. It really doesn't matter. The movie has problems long before one begins digesting its cleesecloth plot. Far more interesting -- without even having seen it -- is "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire," the multiple Sundance award-winning hit from Philly director Lee Daniels.


I know very little about this film but what I've heard is provocative enough to send it flying to the top of my must-see list. Here's the gist: an overweight black girl from the Harlem projects ("Precious," above) is a sex slave to her mother (an already Oscar buzz-worthy Mo'Nique), pregnant with her father's child for the second time (!), illiterate, and HIV-positive (!!). Like, whoa. The movie is apparently about her redemption and ability to rise above impossible odds. Call me twisted, but I can't remember the last time I was so immediately hooked by a synopsis.