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Cusp

Play trailer 2:10 Poster for Cusp 2021 1h 23m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 35 Reviews 33% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Cusp chronicles one formative year of teenage life for three friends in a Texas town where there's little to do but party--and where liquor, drugs, and guns are standard recreational accessories.
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Cusp

Cusp

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Critics Consensus

Cusp smartly and sensitively captures the experiences of a trio of teen girls as they navigate the uncertain ground between youth and adulthood.

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Critics Reviews

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Christy Lemire FilmWeek (LAist) 12/01/2021
It's actually a horror movie if you're a parent. This is terrifying. Go to Full Review
Ann Hornaday Washington Post 11/24/2021
4/4
In this mesmerizing, revelatory and deeply compassionate film, viewers are left with an indelible impression of girlhood at its most precarious and indomitable. Go to Full Review
Sheila O'Malley RogerEbert.com 11/12/2021
3/4
Cusp, with its dreamy imagery of golden sunsets and thunder-y twilights, empty Dairy Queen parking lots, and birds taking flight, is a mood-driven piece of work, sensitive to landscape and environment. Go to Full Review
Phil Guie Film-Forward.com 04/17/2022
3.5/5
As heavy as Cusp mostly is, the main subjects emerge on the other side of their bad experiences, and its actually remarkable seeing them changenot just physically but emotionally as wellbefore our eyes. Go to Full Review
Carson Timar Clapper 02/22/2022
Had the focus been more interesting, this is clearly a team that could have made something really special. As is, Cusp remains a rather forgettable and surprisingly hollow feature for what felt so promising. Go to Full Review
Jordan Elizabeth Common Sense Media 11/23/2021
3/5
While Cusp isn't easy viewing, it documents the harsh reality that rigid gender expectations cause real harm to young people. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Danny L 04/14/2024 Amazing portrayal of the teenage girl experience in America. I related hard to this, even though there were some marked regional differences. A lot of the bad reviews I see for this documentary feel like we got the point of the movie, but decided "this isn't my truth (how I want reality to be, so I hate it)" See more David F 07/01/2023 I usually love these cinema verité documentaries about teenagers (like American Teen (2008), Seventeen (1983), and Medora (2013), to name a few), and this one promised to be an x-ray into teenagers circa 2019 in small town Texas but it was just too decontextualized and too impressionistic to make much of an impression. There were a couple of scenes that were really interesting (like a romantic breakup, and a family shouting match) but I realized that I just didn't seem to know enough about these people to quite make sense of how those events fit into their lives. The movie has some revelations about modern life and it has some beautiful Western cinematography but as a documentary about teenagers it wasn't all it could be. See more Ian M 04/05/2023 A masterpiece. Subtle, sophisticated, well observed. Incredibly uncomfortable, but important to watch. Deeply empathetic. A must see. See more kelly l @kellylesp 01/09/2022 Such an interesting slice of life. So hard to feel comfortable through this film, but it is what is happening in our teenager's lives Closing your eyes isn't going to change anything and complaining that life is so different for our teenagers isn't solving anything. Great way to start a conversation with our own children. Great documentary. See more john m 12/28/2021 Painfully sad and depressing pseudo-documentary. Around the 30% mark, I had to start jumping forward in one-minute jumps because there is zero narrative or story here or attempting to show any growth whatsoever. It's simply four girls living day-to-day in a run-down town, living lower-middle-class lives with next to zero parental supervision and apparently, the little there is are either sexually abusing the girls or too concerned with their own problems. We get to see the three mid-to-late teen females doing their best remain sane in what is a deeply depressing environment. Several decades ago they might have been living in run-down trailers, however, in the 2020's with cell phones, video games, easily available alcohol, weed, and who knows what the white powder is, it is amazing they are as mentally balanced as they appear in the film. Interest in school or a job is hardly mentioned, if at all. It's truly a tough watch. See more barry m 12/19/2021 We follow three dull, going-nowhere teenaged girls in a dull, going-nowhere town. One would hope that somewhere along the way, they would see a glimpse of something bigger than their circumstances. Nope. In their future we see nothing more than more beer, more pot, more rapey sex, and more disappointment. The whole thing made me want to dip myself into a vat of sanitizer. There, I feel better now! See more Read all reviews
Cusp

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Movie Info

Synopsis Cusp chronicles one formative year of teenage life for three friends in a Texas town where there's little to do but party--and where liquor, drugs, and guns are standard recreational accessories.
Director
Isabel Bethencourt, Parker Hill
Producer
Zachary Luke Kislevitz, Parker Hill, Isabel Bethencourt
Production Co
The 51 Fund, Kislevitz Films, Maiden Voyage Films, Wavelength International, Cardel Entertainment, Irving Harvey
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 26, 2021
Runtime
1h 23m
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