Just finished Cuties. I have some thoughts. Some I’ll save for my article but I’ll share a few of them here.

Thread, I guess:

The film has a strong message. 90% of it really isn’t that bad and it tells a worthwhile story for today’s world. As a whole the movie *could* have worked, but it completely falls apart & lands in creep territory due to how the other 10% is filmed.

There’s long shots of 11 year old girls humping the floor, touching their groins, and over and over and over again the camera lingers on their butts. Often showing crevices as one would see in a highly sexualized music video. It’s deeply uncomfortable.

The movie didn’t need these shots to work. Based off what the girls are watching and wearing and the obvious influence social media is having on their behavior, the film didn’t need to show EVERYTHING.

The final dance scene would have worked infinitely better had the camera instead awkwardly held its gaze on the crowd. Never showing the girls on stage but letting the viewer imagine the worst based off the reaction of the crowd.

One overly long (4-5 mins) and awkward shot whereas the viewer has no choice but to view the horrified expressions of the crowd would force them to consider the culture we have bred into being. It’d be like staring into our own souls. That’d be powerful.

But instead of that, the film instead shows very young girls engaging in highly sexual dancing for the duration of the scene. It’s just gross. And it distorts the messaging. The director no doubt had good intentions but she chose a poor direction.

The film losing all meaning because it feels like pedo-bait. It wasn’t the intent, but it’s a consequence of misguided direction. The girls filming this are real girls. And it’s just wrong to film them as this movie does.

As said, 90% of the film is powerful stuff, it *could* have worked, but that 10% destroys all of it. It didn’t need the ass, groin, and chest shots to hammer its message home. It could have worked around that, forced the viewer to imagine the worst instead of seeing it.

Anyways that’s all I have to say right now. 10% of the movie is just as bad as people are making it out to be. This movie is a perfect example of someone taking a good message/theme and utterly destroying all of it.

I felt pervy watching this movie. It’s gross.

End thread