X
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 36 m
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 36 m
Summary Amy, an 11-year-old girl, joins a group of dancers named "the cuties" at school, and rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity - upsetting her mother and her values in the process.
Directed By: Maïmouna Doucouré
Written By: Maïmouna Doucouré
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 36 m
- 2020
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 36 m
Cuties
67
1.3
Where to Watch
Summary Amy, an 11-year-old girl, joins a group of dancers named "the cuties" at school, and rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity - upsetting her mother and her values in the process.
Directed By: Maïmouna Doucouré
Written By: Maïmouna Doucouré
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
67
56% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
44% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
67
56% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
44% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The movie is so much more nuanced and bold than the first wave of outrage charged. With Cuties, Doucouré announces herself as a director with a keen visual style who’s unafraid to explore these cultural and social tensions.
Cuties is a thematically bold yet nuanced study of displacement and duty that deserves to be seen as an auspicious and astute debut, not the source of scandal.
User Score
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 684 User Ratings
1.3
12% Positive
83 Ratings
83 Ratings
2% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
86% Negative
588 Ratings
588 Ratings
User Score
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 684 User Ratings
1.3
12% Positive
83 Ratings
83 Ratings
2% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
86% Negative
588 Ratings
588 Ratings
WOW, JUST WOW!!!!!!! I LOVE this movie, and I wish more people would notice its beauty! Cuties is an AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL movie that supports women empowerment (MORE GENDER EQUALITY PLEASE!) and I wish it was shown in movie theaters all over the globe in every country ever. Not just Netflix. The little girls are so cute and adorable, I would hug them instead of a horrific demon trying to pretend to be a young girl. (Looking at you, whoever the freak the secondary character from that horrific Demon Slayer series. Why do people love you so, you attempted to murder your brother) It also gives us an awesome and important life lesson: to accept kids and hold on tight to who they are, and not to oversaturate them. We need more live action movies these days. I'm sick of ugly ol animation, screw people trying to defend it and make it get a foot in the door. Those people make me want to throw up. Let's get the beautiful story and visuals of Cuties more marketed and shown off so more people could appreciate it for once. I would also like to mention this work of art encouraged me to become a professional dancer, and I love to twerk non stop every day.
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The performance of Fathia Youssouf is impressive as she transforms her diminutive, naïve self into a towering force.
Although Doucouré steeps Cuties in emotion and experience, she abandons its grace to make crazier gestures.
The film and its accusers turn out to be on the same side: Mignonnes attacks the pornification of girls and young women by social media and society in general; it is about the false promise of liberation in this kind of sexualised display. The offending scenes are gruesomely unwatchable – deliberately so.
Doucouré brings a much-needed new perspective and new voice to the cinema. But this doesn’t have the depth or grim impact of a “Kids” (1995) or “thirteen” (2003).
A film to respect for its audacity, admire for its lead female performance perhaps, but also view as dramatically contrived.
It's ironic how upset this movie is making people. It isn't the child porn they want you to believe it is. It is a somewhat disturbing look at the struggles of an adolescent immigrant with a troubled family. While some of the dancing is provocative, it is in no way gratuitous. Most of the 90 minutes of this movie is spent showing innocent moments of adolescent bonding. I'm guessing most of the people who reviewed this movie only saw it in ten second clips.
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Yes, without the gratuitousness, the movie would be nothing. Its specifically meant to make the audience mad and repulsed. The gratuitousness is specifically to upset the audience and yes to draw in viewers. That way the message can actually be delivered. Without it, its delivering its message to an empty theater.
Yet it accurately depicts how many girls in this age do in fact act and express their confused, emerging sexuality. The movie has a fairly important message to convey. Even if its message is not as well defined as it should be, it does get its broad strokes in. With how much bloated controversy around it as has been drummed up it seems like its been fairly successful in what it was setting out to accomplish.
I will say this, it REALLY reminds me of the movie KIDS. It hits in much of the same way. An under the radar indie film that ends up causing an initial moral panic. We can look at Kids and many films of a similar vein that came before it and potentially see what Cuties may be viewed as in a few years when the shock value of it wears off as public perception of immoral behavior continues to erode where this level of disgusting is going to be seen as quaint. (yes, sadly, that day IS on its way) Once you strip that shock value away, you are only left with the remaining message and it is a slightly above average delivery of its message.
So it really feels like getting upset by how the film goes about all of this is like blaming the coffee table because you stubbed your toe. It was there the whole time. You've passed by it a million times without ever paying attention. Its just the one time that it gets in your way that you notice it and who else are you going to blame for it being there?
Honestly if it were not for peoples absolutely ridiculous knee jerk reactionism to this the film would be about a 4.5 but I gave an natural 5.5 and then rounded up to counter balance the absolute review shellacking this has gotten by people who clearly have not nor will ever watch it but wont let that stop them from having a "I will die on this hill" opinion about it. Its not a terrible film at its core and time will be the only actual judge if it is already doomed, or becomes a Kids level cult (pun only minorly intended) favorite. People complaining that they shouldn't use sexualization to bring awareness of sexualization are the same ones who think people trying to bring about a revolution for the good of people have no reason to be anything but civil, peaceful, quiet, and orderly. Sorry, but you clearly don't get how that works. Yes, sexualizing children is not acceptable but lets not kid ourselves, we will be seeing this sort of garbage from Disney in the next 10-15 years and if you don't think so then you are already lost and beyond hope of being saved. You cant fight against the darkness if you spend your entire life staring into the light till you are blind. Its NOT good, but its not THAT bad either. Anyone claiming it is, is over exaggerating a sense of faux offense because they liked it a little more than they should have.
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I've gone through the peril of watching this movie.
I think this movie has some sort of message, but that gets skewed by the twerking 11 year olds, the cringy dances in general, and a whole lot of other stuff. I think that showing the disparity between the two worlds of religious conservatism and modern individualism, especially with the wide availability of smartphones, is an interesting concept, but it's just terribly executed here. Besides the controversy of sexualising children, I was confused by the movie's pacing. A clearer divide between the two worlds would've been nice to show. Also the characters act completely irrational for their personalities, Amy, the protagonist, almost kills another girl. Jesus Christ.
I know I'm going on dangerous turf by giving this movie more than a 0, but it had some alright tones here and there, but everything else is either boring or absolutely terrible.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Production Company
Bien Ou Bien Productions,
France 3 Cinéma,
Canal+,
Ciné+,
France Télévisions,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
La Région Île-de-France,
Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine,
Société des Producteurs de Cinéma et de Télévision (Procirep),
Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM)
Release Date Sep 9, 2020
Duration 1 h 36 m
Rating TV-MA
Genres
Awards
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
César Awards, France
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Berlin International Film Festival
• 2 Nominations
