DISHONEST & DISTURBING FILMMAKING
“Netflix’s Cuties is too intelligent and moving to be marred by one bad-taste poster” – The Independent
Uhm…what?
Cuties is far from intelligent or moving, and it is more than just a bad-taste movie poster. It is a movie that crossed the line of decency, when it didn’t need too, and is an example of horrible filmmaking gone stupid.
This movie isn’t worth watching, but if you’re wondering what’s it about, here’s a synopsis that should arm you with enough information, so you won’t have to waste your time.
Cuties tells the story of a pre-pubescent Senegal Muslim teen, who is raised in a modern oversexualized world. Amy, the main character, lives in France, and begins her journey in school as the shy unpopular kid who wants nothing more, but to fit in. She eventually finds her way into a small dance group called The Cuties, who are nothing more than misfits.
There’s not very much depth to these young girls. They are all just one-dimensional bad, without a backstory that explains why. They dress like hookers, talk about sex, and are boy crazy. For no good reason, other than being troublemakers, they initialize Amy into their group by persuading her to video a boy using the bathroom. From there on out, Amy’s character spirals morally out of control.
Amy eventually teaches herself how to sexualize her dance moves by watching music videos, and she brings this perversion to the dance group. Before Amy, Cutie’s dance moves were similar to 80’s street dancing. But Amy teaches them how to twerk, and how to dance literally like strippers, and now they are officially 100% grotesque.
From here on out, Amy embarks on a series of remarkably bad decisions. From stealing from her mom, to getting into fights, to oversexualizing herself during a religious exorcism of some sorts. At one of her many low points, when a contractor, who looks to be a friend of the family, finds out that Amy stole his phone, she undresses to offer herself to him. Lucky for her, he rejects her advances, because she’s only eleven. She then runs to the bathroom, locks herself in the bathroom, uses the cellphone to snap a picture of her privates, and then publishes it to social media.
When I saw this scene, I thought she was trying to frame the contractor for child porn, but it was for her to gain notoriety in school. Her actions have the exact opposite effect. She is ridiculed at school and her mother, is of course, outraged.
Her friends immediately disown her before the dance competition, because apparently, Amy’s actions were too sexual, even for them. But that doesn’t stop Amy’s ambitions of competing. While one of the girls in Cuties dance group walks to the competition, Amy pushes her into the river. This girl can’t swim, and Amy, who is cold-blooded, watches her struggles to keep afloat. Luckily, that girl finds a buoy to hold onto, but it seems as though Amy wasn’t going to rescue her even when she was close to drowning.
Amy arrives at the dance competition, dressed to compete, and is unwillingly accepted back into the group to complete the dance routine. The Cuties perform their dance routine, which is extremely sexual, not to mention, disturbing. Mothers in the crowd shield their children from The Cuties, while young men, and older male judges, enjoy the show, smiling and nodding.
It’s at this point where Amy has a sudden epiphany. She runs off the stage, mid-performance, back to her mother, and finds peace.
DIRECTOR ANALYSIS:
Cuties was Maimouna Doucoure’s debut as both a director and a writer for a feature-length movie. According to the director, the movie was about “How to become a woman in our (Western) society.” This was of course, her vision.
The director admits in the interview that as a young woman, she did not feel comfortable with herself, even her own gender, in a country she did not fully understand. This perspective is not uncommon with many artists, as this falls in line with the Type Four Invidualist Personality. And like many artists, sometimes they become so trapped in their metaphoric world, that they fail to see what they actually created.
In the case of Maimouna, she unknowingly created legalized child-porn.
In the video above, the interviewer comments that the movie criticizes the over-sexualization of western culture, and Maimouna agrees. But this movie, doesn’t criticize the over-sexualization of western culture. In fact, it does the opposite. It contributes to it.
A movie doesn’t have to demonstrate rape on camera, in graphic detail, to send the message that it’s horrible.
But this is exactly what Cuties does. It demonstrates how to over-sexualize children, in probably the most unethical ways, to prove that it’s wrong. For example, the director chose to shoot close up crotch shots, many with their legs spread. There was a very disturbing Muslim exorcism scene where the main character, Amy, was doused with water, and her shirt became see-through. The actress is twelve-years-old! Amy then twerks, as the camera zooms in uncomfortably close to portions of her body. The director also chose to use harsh lighting to accentuate the twelve-year-old’s “parts.” It’s horrible, cringe-worthy.
If a grown man were to film these exact scenes of an 12-year-old, post it on youtube, they would probably get arrested for the creation of child-porn.
There are some lines that you don’t cross, and this director chose to step way over it. In fact, she chose to step so over the line, she offended the people that agreed with her message, and created a movie that pedophiles would love.
Maimouna, does have a message to send, and it’s a very good one, that our kids are not kids anymore, because society is too sexualized. But she unknowingly contributes to the problem. A great director and/or a writer, must be a clear communicator. And if they can’t communicate their idea clearly, they need to work on their craft.
GRADE: F
CHARACTER ANALYSIS:
AMY TYPE “SIX” LOYALIST
Like most Type Six Loyalists, Amy suffered from a feeling of abandonment. She had no relationship with her father, and was very distant from her mother. And, like most Type Six Loyalists, she found refuge in a group – The Cuties. They were the family she never had.
Every choice she made, was motivated by her desire to be accepted by The Cuties.
There’s no reason to analyze the other characters because they are so thin, there’s really nothing to discuss.
It’s all about the script in the end.
Was it as great a the critics claimed it was? Absolutely not. The first turning point didn’t hit hard at all, meaning we didn’t really didn’t know when the real story started. The Second Act, by the way, is where the guts of every story takes place.
For example, in Back To The Future, The 2nd Act starts when Marty is blasted back to the past. In Top Gun, it’s when Maverick and Goose attend top gun training. But for Cuties, The 2nd Act starts when Amy begins to hang around the dance group, and it’s not a strong turning point. It just eases into there, with no fanfare, no big inciting incident that turns her life upside down, for better or worse.
Turning points need to hit hard. They need to dramatically change the direction of the story, not to mention, the life of the protagonist. If that turning point doesn’t hit hard, the story quickly loses momentum. And this is why much of the movie, drags.
There is much that we don’t understand about the characters in this movie. What is Amy’s attraction with The Cuties, because they are not likable people at all. They are rude, they tease her, they’re troublemakers in school, and are just full of themselves. There are no redeemable qualities to the dance group throughout the entire movie. They don’t grow at all, they are just plain bad from beginning to send.
At one point of the movie, Amy becomes such an awful person, it looks as though she is the antagonist. She was willing to murder her classmate to dance. There are absolutely no redeemable characteristics of Amy. I don’t feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for her mother, who is in a polygamous marriage and has to deal with a horrible daughter. But Amy? She’s an eleven-year-old loser.
I think the best part of the movie is when Amy’s mother begins spanking her.
But you know what really troubles me? That Amy’s horrible life choices had zero consequences. That’s not canon to reality. Amy’s choice to photograph her private parts, and to post it on social media only made her unpopular in school, and kicked her out the group. But in France, that’s possession and distribution of child porn. I wonder what her Muslim father thought? I’m sure that wouldn’t sit well him. Actions like that would bring shame upon her family. Nothing really happened when she stole from her mother. Nothing happened when she got into a fight at school.
There are many kids who make bad decisions like Amy, and they have real-life consequences. Some become runaways, and then are kidnapped, and end up in the underground sex-trade. There are some who start abusing alcohol and drugs. Some end up in juvie. None of these real-life consequences played out on the show. If I were to rewrite this script, I would have each MEMBER OF CUTIE follow a very realistic pathway to destruction that wouldn’t end great.
If you make a movie where bad decisions don’t get punished, what are you trying to teach here?
The movie didn’t end well either. Great movies need to have a strong 3rd Act, and this movie had maybe two to five pages devoted to a resolution. That’s not enough.
GRADE: F
OVERALL
This movie is probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It doesn’t accomplish what it was made for, and it’s sick. It honestly should be pulled from Netflix because other children should not see this, as it would sexualize them. And, it’s pretty much borderline childporn, so pedophiles would eat this up.
I’m scratching my head when it comes to the critics who enjoyed this film. I really have to ask myself if they lost their mind. It’s not an inspirational film. It’s not well directed. It’s not well written.
GRADE: F
Steve Young
