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Netflix movie cuties

44 replies

Cheeeeislifenow · 10/09/2020 22:07

Anyone seen this movie on netflix yet? It's described as a coming of age story about a girl who joins a free spirited dance troupe. There is a petition doing the rounds to get it removed as apparently its overtly sexualizing children and comparisons to paedophilia.
Full disclosure, haven't seen it yet. Here is the trailer

Hope that works okay.

OP posts:
Motherofmonsters · 10/09/2020 22:11

I've seen enough clips of it, to not want to go near it. It's hypocritical to say it's against the sexualisation of children when they're exploiting them in the film

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Cheeeeislifenow · 10/09/2020 22:16

I was surprised by the trailer, but I have seen tic toc vids etc of girls about 11 or 12 behaving in such a way, as in dance moves etc. not sure we should be normalizing that though

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ThreenagerToTeenager · 10/09/2020 22:19

I’ve watched four or five clips, posted on another site. Mostly of dance scenes, all of which were deeply uncomfortable viewing. I read a few interviews with the director and some critics reviews which seem to suggest that this is kind of the point, that it’s meant to make us uncomfortable and highlight the issue we have as a society of children being hypersexualised.. but... honestly, whatever the intent it just feels like watching child porn. Its gross. Lots of close up lingering shots of 11 year olds thrusting or fondling their scantily clothed crotch. Lots of little girls sucking their fingers and acting in an extremely sexually suggestive manner. Sequences of little girls smacking each other on the tiny twerking asses. I’ll not be watching the full thing to find out the context because I find watching kids like that too unpleasant.

Motherofmonsters · 10/09/2020 22:21

It's about the camera angles to zooming in on crotches. A girl flashes her chest and bum. A girl in the bathroom pulls her underwear down and takes a photo of herself and texts it.

I'm sure there are more sophisticated ways to get the message across.

ThreenagerToTeenager · 10/09/2020 22:31

I'm sure there are more sophisticated ways to get the message across

Yes. Sad to say I think the way it has been done will simply be something for people attracted to children to get off on, whatever the message was supposed to be.

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Cheeeeislifenow · 10/09/2020 23:12

What were Netflix thinking? Do they not have people who research these things before they release them surely it would be obvious the backlash they would get?

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VestaTilley · 10/09/2020 23:18

It looks appalling and I’m deeply concerned.

Where are our politicians? What are they doing about our porn soaked culture and the damage it does?

user127819 · 11/09/2020 04:49

I know they have said the film aims to exploration the tension between a strict Muslim upbringing and sexualised Western culture, but from the trailer and the now withdrawn synopsis I sensed the implication that the former is "bad" and "stifling" and the latter is "freeing" and "playful". Perhaps the film itself is more balanced, but the trailer certainly was not.

Lots of the camera angles made me really uncomfortable and I've no doubt this film will be enjoyed by some but not for its storyline.

On the one hand I want to watch the film to see if my assessment of the trailer was unfair. On the other hand the trailer made me feel icky and like I'd been watching something illegal, so I'm not sure...

sashh · 11/09/2020 05:19

What were Netflix thinking? Do they not have people who research these things before they release them surely it would be obvious the backlash they would get?

What are the parents of the girls and the dance teachers thinking?

LockdownLump · 11/09/2020 05:31

I think the fact that the female director - who won an award at the sundance Festival for this movie, has received death threats from random people on the Internet, who have not even seen the film yet, is pretty revolting.

Netflix have already issued an apology for portraying the film incorrectly.

I am not saying the film isn't sexually exploiting children. But I can't say it is. Because I've never seen it and by the sounds of it, nobody else on this thread has either.

user127819 · 11/09/2020 05:42

Well, yes, I think we can all agree that she shouldn't have got death threats. I don't see how her sex is relevant here?

A trailer is supposed to represent a film and to inform a decision to watch it or not, so I don't think it's unreasonable to make assumptions about the film based on the trailer.

Considering the hundreds of people involved in the production of the film and the number of people who would have seen the trailer and description before their release, I'm not sure that a simple apology is quite enough here.

LockdownLump · 11/09/2020 05:51

I think a lot of people will have watched the trailer just to express their outrage and sign a petition to be honest.

The kind of people who form their opinions on what the twitter masses tell them to agree with.

It's a shame really that nobody takes time to make an informed decision.

As I say, I've not watched it. So I can't say whether I would be disgusted or not, but a snippet, taken out of context, would not make me throw my arms up in rage.

I think the sex of the director is very important because its actually based on her life as a child, moving from Senegal and trying to integrate into western culture after moving from a Muslim country and trying to navigate puberty in a different world to the one she knew.

monsterad · 11/09/2020 13:40

@LockdownLump

I think a lot of people will have watched the trailer just to express their outrage and sign a petition to be honest.

The kind of people who form their opinions on what the twitter masses tell them to agree with.

It's a shame really that nobody takes time to make an informed decision.

As I say, I've not watched it. So I can't say whether I would be disgusted or not, but a snippet, taken out of context, would not make me throw my arms up in rage.

I think the sex of the director is very important because its actually based on her life as a child, moving from Senegal and trying to integrate into western culture after moving from a Muslim country and trying to navigate puberty in a different world to the one she knew.

Why don't you actually watch it before making a comment!
monsterad · 11/09/2020 13:41

A comment from Facebook that I think it's brilliant:

"The close ups are utterly indefensible

This scene could have been shot in a way that showed it was wrong, as a horrific scene, but it wasn’t.

It’s also so long? I didn’t watch the whole thing because it went on and on and on.

If the cheery tone is meant to be the girls’ POV why were none of the shots actually from their POV??? This is really basic stuff and they absolutely took it all into account when they decided to stick cameras between the legs of preteens. "

billsnewhat · 12/09/2020 17:22

I have just watched it and although unpleasant to watch at times in all honestly the over sexualised scenes are very short and there isn't very many of them really. It is actually no way as bad and explicit as I was expecting from the trailer. It has a proper story about the protagonist (Amy)really going against her culture and trying to fit in in a western society. I actually cried at the end. My daughter who is 15 started it with me but got bored half way through!!!

shortsaint · 15/09/2020 21:39

I'm with@billsnewhat It's a really decent coming of age indie film.

The dancing somewhat shocked me but it didn't offend. Quite frankly young girls pouting and posing and all looking the same with filters offends me more. It makes a good point about female friendships, growing up, the impact of YouTube / TikTok videos.

I do not think you can comment until you have seen the entire film. That said I haven't seen the trailer - sounds like it was badly advertised.

Branleuse · 29/09/2020 19:17

I watched it yesterday and while a few scenes were hard to watch, it was actually really good. i think it was really brave.

WiddlinDiddlin · 29/09/2020 20:26

I watched it.

It's a very good film, bits of it are hard to watch, yes, but the out of context clips and hysteria in no way represent what this film is actually about, at all.

Watch it, then discuss it, it is pointless to discuss without watching.

Thisisworsethananticpated · 17/10/2020 01:28

Just watched it
It’s VERY french
But a story that resonates
My son heard about it at school
But , very very french

grassisjeweled · 17/10/2020 01:31

There was a thread on here a couple of weeks ago about it, totally gross

lasttimeround · 17/10/2020 06:11

I watched the film. I think its excellent and its treatment of hypersexualisation is critical not endorsing. It's a well observed and poignant exploration of cultural difference in the context of coming of age.

OptimisticSix · 17/10/2020 06:28

I have watched it and agree with the other posters who have watched it and posted that it is a film about growing up and trying to fit in and everything @Lasttimeround said above.

Nuttyfellalovesnutella · 17/10/2020 06:54

So the people who have watched the film love it and the people who haven’t seen the film hate it.

I’ll try to watch it this weekend.

Aridane · 17/10/2020 07:18

I will watch and then come back to this thread

Rollmopsrule · 17/10/2020 07:27

How can the posters who are offended by the film have this reaction without actually watching it ?Confused