Cusp

2021

1 hr. 23 min.

Documentary

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86%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

33%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

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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Premiered Jun 14

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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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Danny L

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)"

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/14/24

Full Review

David F

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.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

07/01/23

Full Review

Jules G

This was a beautiful and heartbreaking portrayal of the pain and pitfalls of being a teenage girl. Giving these girls a voice in a world that clearly doesn't want to listen to them, is exactly why films like this need to be made.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/05/23

Full Review

Ian M

A masterpiece. Subtle, sophisticated, well observed. Incredibly uncomfortable, but important to watch. Deeply empathetic. A must see.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/05/23

Full Review

kelly l

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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john m

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.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Cusp: Trailer 1

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Christy Lemire

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

It's actually a horror movie if you're a parent. This is terrifying.

Dec 1, 2021

Full Review

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

In this mesmerizing, revelatory and deeply compassionate film, viewers are left with an indelible impression of girlhood at its most precarious and indomitable.

Rated: 4/4

Nov 24, 2021

Full Review

Sheila O'Malley

RogerEbert.com

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.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 12, 2021

Full Review

Phil Guie

Film-Forward.com

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.

Rated: 3.5/5

Apr 17, 2022

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Carson Timar

Clapper

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.

Feb 22, 2022

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Jordan Elizabeth

Common Sense Media

While Cusp isn't easy viewing, it documents the harsh reality that rigid gender expectations cause real harm to young people.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 23, 2021

Full Review

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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
Executive Producer: Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, Caitlin Gold, Naomi McDougall Jones, Joe Plummer, Jenifer Westphal
Production Co: Irving Harvey, The 51 Fund, Kislevitz Films, Wavelength International, Maiden Voyage Films, Cardel Entertainment
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 26, 2021

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