Review by Saint Pauly

Cuties 2020

An immigrant child in a new school battling hormones and her mother's Senegalese traditions tries so hard to fit in she breaks.

Cuties / Mignonnes is everything but cute. It's rough, hard, brutal, tragic and very real. Director Maïmouna Doucouré paints the gut wrenching portrait of the young lady and the clique she's dying to enter with sensitivity, soul and a touch of magical realism that mark the reader like a dark tattoo.

Amy is a complex character (terrifically written by Doucouré and played to a T by Fathia Youssouf) because in the same instant she elicits our sympathy, our anger and our disgust. She makes all the wrong decisions for all the right reasons and because for an 11-year-old on the threshold of puberty, there is only right now and desires that blind them from seeing any consequences of their actions.

As for the ridiculous controversy launched by those who haven't seen the film and fueled by blind ignorance: I find it interesting that people will criticize a female woman of color for directing a film based on her personal experiences, whereas when Woody Allen makes a film about young women throwing themselves at older men, he's hailed as a genius.

Shame on those who shame someone for trying to tell their story. Cinema is meant to be a stage for sharing, not an arena for executing artists we judge despite knowing nothing about them or their art.

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3 replies

@saint-pauly And this is coming from "Saint" Pauly... Well, I'm not surprised!

@bassoo7 is that supposed to be a 'dunk'? Think of something cleverer next time, sweetie.

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Reply by Nyx
Blocked2020-09-18T03:44:51Z— updated 2020-10-10T21:22:53Z

@saint-pauly

"I find it interesting that people will criticize a woman of color for directing a film based on her personal experiences, whereas when Woody Allen makes a film about young women throwing themselves at older men, he's hailed as a genius."

And right there, you've hit the crux of the matter. It has everything to do with colour and culture, and less about the facade of concern for protecting innocence. The irony is vexingly hilarious.

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