I Watched “Cuties.” I am Not Cancelling Netflix.

The controversy ravaging this film is part bandwagon, part marketing misstep, and out of proportion to its context.

Introduction

The current French release, “Mignonnes,” known in America as “Cuties,” is a bold, unflinching, and to my mind scrupulously honest portrayal of a group of carefree young teen girls confronting adolescence and ambition in equal measure.

One of the girls, Amy (pronounced Ami, played by the outstanding Fathia Youssouf), 11, is from a strict religious Senegalese family and presently living in a poor Parisian neighborhood. She is taken with her free-spirited neighbor, Angelica (Médina El Aidi-Azouni), same age, the leader of a dance troupe called “Cuties.” Amy escapes her religious confines and joins Angelica’s ensemble, bringing to the team an increasingly sexualized twerking style of the likes she saw online. They elect to enter a dance competition, where they stun those present with the moves and unacceptable sexuality on display.

The film marks a blazingly original feature debut by French-Senegalese director Maïmouna Doucouré, who said she was inspired to make “Cuties” after watching a group of 11-year-olds performing a “very sexual, very sensual” dance at a neighborhood…