I have just finished watching 'Cuties' and I feel like a lot of people who complain about it have not really watched the film. I have watched the French version with English subtitles.
The following will be spoiler heavy, just so you know.
CONTEXT:
The main character of the film (Amy) has to deal with a very traditional family, with a dad that's gone back to Senegal and married a second wife, a mother that's not paying much attention to her, and an aunt that wants to push her traditional values onto her. Those values include subordinancy to a future husband, arranged marriage, and so forth.
Meanwhile at school she sees a number of girls who are 'freeer', and at first bully her for how Amy's dressed. These girls are part of a dance group called 'Les Mignonnes'. ('the Cuties' in english) who are practising for a contest.
Amy gets more in contact with this western world through a smartphone she stole, and also starts to dress more revealing outside of her family's sight. She becomes friends with one of the girls of that group, and after filming them in a dance routine, she starts to learn the dance moves, until she gets to replace one of the other girls (because of a falling out over her turning on the webcam while they were trolling someone online)
From here on they dance more for the contest, and auditions are held.
Amy however was too late as her aunt made her help in preparation for her fathers' and his new wives' wedding. she later explains this in tears to the group, who at first accuse her of not taking the dancing seriously, but after she cries (with desperation) they believe her.
At some point her aunt and mum perform an excorcism of sorts on a clearly confused and distressed Amy, for 'dressing like a whore'. Amy stands shaking heavily while her mum and aunt chant and drizzle/spray water over her. she eventually falls to her knees and the scene ends with her twerking (I understand what the makers were trying, I wouldn't have filmed it like this)
The Cuties are placed for the 'dance-offs' on stage, and a second scene happens that's filmed with the girls twerking and dancing in ways they shouldn't, filmed like a video clip (dear director, why?)
At school they run into another dance group, and after a can of soda is thrown towards the Cuties, Amy starts a fight with that girl, ending in her 'raggy old' underwear being visible and put online.
The Cuties are not happy with this, as it takes attention away from their dancing videos. (and thus their popularity) and makes them look like children(in their words)
To remedy this, Amy decides to upload a nude of herself online, before her stolen phone is taken off of her. Because of this she's kicked out of the group, and the girl they kicked out before is replacing her.
On the day the 'dance-offs' are taking place, Amy throws this girl in the river (nearly drowning her) and takes her place, begrudged by the Cuties, but still accepted)
This final performance on stage shows the Cuties doing another twerk routine, booed on by a disapproving audience. At some point Amy stops and runs off back to home, where her mum finally stands up for her, and tells her she doesn't have to go to her dad's wedding. She then finally is seen walking outside, playing skip rope with some other girls (as an 11 year old should do)
THOUGHTS:
I feel like I had to describe half the film just to get some points across, so my thoughts on it all:
It's clear throughout the film that Amy lacks parental supervision, as her mum at no point really seems to care about her (until the very end) and is completely oblivious about her dance posse.
The movie does at one point acknowledge that the behaviour will attract the wrong kind of people (in one scene the Cuties accuse a guard of being a pedo, and then another guard steps in, who is)
I would say that everything that is shown apart from 2 scenes was okay. the excorcism turning into twerking and the twerking 'music video' were out of place. The 'dance-off' scene had a purpose, as it shows the girls doing a thing which is finally disapproved on by an audience, which did not happen at any other point throughout their performances.
In the end I feel that the core message of this film is that parental guidance is really needed in this day and age where there's so many bad role models on the internet. And children are very susceptible to copy that behaviour, without understanding why it's wrong.
Out of the 95 minutes, about 4 minutes shows the Cuties dancing and twerking, and they could have been filmed in a less sexual way while retaining the message. I also feel like a lot of reviews are very biased, as people are more likely to view/read whichever confirms their worldview. The US release of this film was done in the worst possible way, and I hope the people who approved of the marketing will be sacked.
Submitted September 16, 2020 at 04:46AM by CH23 https://ift.tt/2E9HR0Y