User:Stephenfisher2001/sandbox/Cuties (Johnsonverse)

Cuties (French: Mignonnes) is a 2020 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas and Maïmouna Gueye. The plot revolves around Amy (Youssouf), a Senegalese-French girl with a traditional Muslim upbringing who is caught between traditional values and Internet culture when she joins a twerking dance crew.

The filmmakers claimed that it is intended to criticise the hypersexualisation of pre-adolescent girls. Doucouré wrote the script using inspirations from an inappropriate talent show she happened to walk across one day, as well as her experience as a Senegalese-French person. Casting took six months, and principal photography took three months, with a psychologist assisting the child actresses throughout. The film premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January, where Doucouré won the Directing Award. Later, Youssouf won the César Award for Most Promising Actress. It was released in France on 19 August 2020 by BAC Films and internationally on 9 September 2020.

While receiving generally positive reviews from critics for its ambition and acting, Cuties became a subject of controversy, starting from the theatrical release's initial promotional poster that was widely considered inappropriate. The film received overwhelming criticism following its release in select theatres.

Plot
Amy, an 11-year-old girl, joins a group of dancers named "the cuties" at school, and rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity - upsetting her mother and her values in the process.

Cast

 * Fathia Youssouf as Amy
 * Médina El Aidi-Azouni as Angelica
 * Maïmouna Gueye as Mariam, Amy's mother
 * Esther Gohourou as Coumba, a member of the Cuties
 * Ilanah Cami-Goursolas as Jess, another member of the Cuties
 * Myriam Hamma as Yasmine, another member of the Cuties
 * Mbissine Therese Diop as Amy's aunt
 * Demba Diaw as Ishmael, Amy's brother
 * Mamadou Samaké as Samba

Pre-relase
When the trailer was released, the trailer was heavily detained by audiences alike, and it bombed over with 7 million dislikes compared to 5,200 likes on YouTube upon its trailer release, making it the most disliked YouTube video ever.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A thoughtful look at the intricacies of girlhood in the modern age, Cuties is a coming-of-age film that confronts its themes with poignancy and nuance." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47/100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

However, the film received some very strong negative reviews from two critics, and audiences alike, with a 1.2/10 rating on IMDB, while two critics, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune both gave Cuties zero stars, giving a two-thumbs down score, and also told Doucouré in their review on their show Siskel & Ebert at the Movies to "get some help and stop making movies".