Post by Neverending on Sept 10, 2020 16:50:08 GMT -5
PG Cooper won’t do a video essay so up to me.
It’s a French art house film. Y’all are nerds. You know what to expect. So let’s just cut to the chase.
Nothing controversial happens until 60 minutes into a 90 minute movie. Up until then we follow the story of an African immigrant who is dealing with her family’s turmoil and just looking for an escape and a place to fit in. She befriends the school sluts (to put it lightly) and together they enter a dance contest. That’s all fine and dandy but not what the internet is outraged about. In the last 30 minutes the following occurs:
- They shoot a risqué dance video
- The African girl posts a nude photo online.
- A boy at school smack’s the African girl’s ass and she stabs him. I shit you not.
- African girl’s mom goes into panic mode and calls the witch doctors. I’m serious. This leads to a scene that, I’ll concede, should not have been in the movie. Or at least they should have shot/edited differently. But again, it’s a French film. As someone that has watched a fair share of European cinema, they shrug at this type of stuff. PG Cooper made me watch Walkabout at the Film Club. I can assure you that Walkabout is a billion times more explicit than anything you’ll see in Cuties. Should we cancel Walkabout? Cancel PG Cooper? Sign me up. I’ll go start the hashtag right now.
- Anyway, the movie ends with the dance competition, which pushes the boundaries, but only if you’ve never seen a dance competition in your life. They mocked this institution in Little Miss Sunshine. That was 2006. Have we digressed culturally?
Overall, the film is pretty good. It’s based on the director’s real life experiences and you can tell everything on screen is therapeutic for her. The fact she’s receiving death threats is insane. If there are any flaws, aside from the French stuff that Americans are too puritanical to handle, is the rather abrupt ending. It not only felt rushed but inauthentic to everything that preceded it. Everything had grit and sincerity and then we get a sappy ending. Eh.
It’s a French art house film. Y’all are nerds. You know what to expect. So let’s just cut to the chase.
Nothing controversial happens until 60 minutes into a 90 minute movie. Up until then we follow the story of an African immigrant who is dealing with her family’s turmoil and just looking for an escape and a place to fit in. She befriends the school sluts (to put it lightly) and together they enter a dance contest. That’s all fine and dandy but not what the internet is outraged about. In the last 30 minutes the following occurs:
- They shoot a risqué dance video
- The African girl posts a nude photo online.
- A boy at school smack’s the African girl’s ass and she stabs him. I shit you not.
- African girl’s mom goes into panic mode and calls the witch doctors. I’m serious. This leads to a scene that, I’ll concede, should not have been in the movie. Or at least they should have shot/edited differently. But again, it’s a French film. As someone that has watched a fair share of European cinema, they shrug at this type of stuff. PG Cooper made me watch Walkabout at the Film Club. I can assure you that Walkabout is a billion times more explicit than anything you’ll see in Cuties. Should we cancel Walkabout? Cancel PG Cooper? Sign me up. I’ll go start the hashtag right now.
- Anyway, the movie ends with the dance competition, which pushes the boundaries, but only if you’ve never seen a dance competition in your life. They mocked this institution in Little Miss Sunshine. That was 2006. Have we digressed culturally?
Overall, the film is pretty good. It’s based on the director’s real life experiences and you can tell everything on screen is therapeutic for her. The fact she’s receiving death threats is insane. If there are any flaws, aside from the French stuff that Americans are too puritanical to handle, is the rather abrupt ending. It not only felt rushed but inauthentic to everything that preceded it. Everything had grit and sincerity and then we get a sappy ending. Eh.
