Cuties (2020)

Maïmouna Doucouré’s Cuties is special because it dares to look straight at the messy crossroads of childhood and performance—capturing girlhood with a clarity that’s both tender and unsettling. Anchored by a remarkably natural turn from Fathia Youssouf, the film observes how family expectations, peer approval, and pop-culture imagery tug at an 11-year-old from every direction, and it does so with an eye that’s visually alive and emotionally precise. The tone is intimate and observant rather than sensational, using discomfort as part of its honest critique of how society packages “growing up” for young girls. It isn’t an easy watch and won’t be for everyone, but if you want a drama that sparks real conversation and refuses simple answers, this one stays with you.

Cuties is aiming for a pointed coming-of-age critique about how young girls get squeezed between cultural expectations at home and hyper-sexualized pressures outside it, and that intention is clear. The problem is the execution: it lingers on provocative dance imagery in a way that can feel like it’s replicating the very exploitation it claims to condemn, which many viewers find upsetting rather than insightful. If you’re sensitive to depictions of minors framed through a sexualized lens—or you don’t want to spend your time arguing with a film’s choices—this likely isn’t for you. That said, the lead performance has real vulnerability, and the movie does capture the confusion of growing up, even if it does so in a way that many will find hard to stomach.