Nick Clement brings us his Cuties review, a rather controversial film currently streaming on Netflix
WARNING & DISCLAIMER From Nick Clement
I’m not interested in debating this film.
I’m also not interested in reading any ignorant, ill-informed, or derogatory comments that some might feel compelled to lodge against this motion picture.
If you’re not a fan of Cuties, or not in support of the cinematic arts telling stories that are tethered to the here and now, regardless of how upsetting the subject matter is, then please, bite your tongue, un-follow this post and don’t feel free to comment.
If you call this movie “inappropriate” or perpetuate this asinine idea of “cancelling” Netflix because they are the only ones with the balls to release something this important and cutting-edge in our increasingly homogenized times.
So, with that said…
Don’t listen to the delusional and self-important ramblings of conservative, right-wing Republican lunatics who are calling for a boycott/cancellation of Netflix because they are distributing the insightful and skillfully made coming of age drama.
Cuties, from debuting feature filmmaker Maimouna Doucoure’, who based aspects of this challenging and ultimately sad narrative on her own life experiences.
Focusing on an 11 year old French-Senegalese girl living in Paris who is seriously confused about the direction her life is taking.
Cuties is a provocative film about the perils of growing up too fast but with the added layer of how the internet, YouTube, and music videos have contributed to the over-sexualization of young girls, which has become disturbingly prevalent on a worldwide basis.
It’s also a fascinating peek into the mind of a girl who is just experiencing hormonal change for the first time, and how young kids see themselves as budding objects of sexual identification, and how they perceive those around them in terms of how they should act and behave, or think they should act and behave.
And of course, because pre-teens aren’t emotionally and psychologically ready for the items that will consume their lives in the not-too-distant-future, things get complicated when your cerebral cortex is fed image after image of female objectification, especially in the context of a worldwide society that values excessive ass-twerking more than ritualistic family dinners.
Bottom line – if I had a daughter, I’d be HORRIFIED over what the world might have in store for her.
Films like Cuties painfully and accurately depicts why any caring parent of a girl would carry immense stress.
The young actress Fathia Youssouf stars in the leading role, and it must be said, she did an excellent job playing a very (at times) unsympathetic character; even though she’s been dealt some serious challenges in her life, some of her actions have zero justification other than being the result of bubbling, misdirected anger and personal class-resentment.
Youssouf has a talent for operating in many scenes with a blank face, allowing the audience to investigate what she might be thinking, and then when she acts out or displays any type of feeling, you immediately get the sense that she’s losing any grip on the world around her.
I’m not sure she could ever fully appreciate the performance she gave at such a young age, but that’s the skill in Doucoure’s direction coming through on the screen.
The plot involves Youssouf’s character rejecting her ultra-rigid family upbringing, and becoming fascinated with a group of school friends who dress in ultra-skimpy attire and practice sexy dance moves in an effort to get famous.
Cuties also operates as a darkly comical rebuke of traditional Muslim attitudes and values towards marriage, fidelity, and the role of the woman in the household.
I personally feel that it’s easily one of the best films of the year.
Review by Nick Clement
Our Rating
Summary
This is a multilayered piece of storytelling, which is likely to anger those of us who only watch trailers and look at marketing materials when assessing whether or not a film actually has any true artistic relevance.
