Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault.
Cusp does not flinch as it delves into the small town lives of three teenage girls juggling their safety from predatory men and their desire for autonomy from their parents. Directed by Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt, Cusp is a beautifully filmed documentary that does not hold back from diving into its teenage subjects’ private lives.
Autumn, Brittney, and Aaloni live in one of those places where there’s nothing to do but drink and smoke at get-togethers and play with fireworks and guns. If you didn’t already feel trapped by your parents’ double standards and problems, living in a town where the only place you can hang out is a McDonald’s parking lot can only make those feelings worse. Over their summer break, we watch them party, hang out with older boys, gossip about who broke up with who — and publicly discuss the sexual abuse they’ve all witnessed or experienced first-hand. As the film goes on, each girl opens up about their own past, be it Autumn and Brittney’s abuse as children, or Aaloni’s struggle to protect her family from a father who walks all over them. This authentic look into the lives of three teenage girls, constantly overlooked and beat down by the adults and young men around them, is harrowing and takes me right back to my own teenage years.
Each one of the young women featured in Cusp reminded me of the girls I knew growing up in central Florida. They dressed and spoke the same way — the “don’t fuck with me” attitude that always felt like a projection because they’ve been surrounded by mistreatment for so long. Their mannerisms haven’t changed in 15 years. For me, I wholly skipped the parties, guns, and fire pits. While my “not like other girls” attitude kept me from experiencing the excitement of sneaking out, experimenting, and more, that doesn’t mean this film doesn’t carry a piece of truth for me personally. Aaloni’s confrontation with her father, after he makes comments about the way his younger daughter dressed, brought up my own confrontations I’ve had with my family. The film includes just enough of these scenes to paint the picture of Aaloni’s family life. It shows us why she needs to act the way she does, in order to protect herself, her mother, and her younger siblings, without spelling it out for us.
What was truly refreshing, albeit heart-breaking, was to see multiple girls speak about consent, specifically sexual abuse and rape. They all include their own experiences without holding back. It gave me hope to see teenagers say the truth out loud, even when it made those around them uncomfortable, even themselves. Sometimes they would laugh nervously afterwards, triggered by the fact that they constantly have to tell boys and men that are older than them they are wrong. Watching these girls have to be protective of themselves, while dealing with trauma from such a young age, when they only want to be free and party like the guys around them, makes their stories so tragic. Yet, they all keep going, holding on to the idea that when they turn 18, everything will change.
Hill and Bethencourt’s strength as directors becomes clear as the documentary goes on. They are able to say so much by showing only glimpses, like when Aaloni’s mother smokes on the porch crying as she tries to hold herself and her children together under the oppressive shadow of her husband. Or that scene of Brittney biting her nails and being attacked by text message notifications as she hangs out with her friends one night, depicting her older boyfriend’s growing anger with her for staying away so long. The underlying signs of abuse and control are so prevalent in Aaloni and Brittney’s stories. Hill and Bethencourt are holding the red flags high, yet it doesn’t feel heavy-handed. It was deeply understood by someone like me who has seen a lot of this first-hand, and I could only end the film hoping these girls find their way out the best they can.
While documentaries about teenage lives have come before, and Cusp does not truly revolutionize the depiction of today’s youth, you can’t help but be in awe of Autumn, Brittney, and Aaloni’s strength, even when you feel like they are making the wrong choices. It hurts to know that they’ve dealt with so much in their young lives, and the film doesn’t have a happy ending, because they have only just started. In a male-centered world that makes existing as a teenage girl a daily struggle, where we have to protect ourselves at every turn, you leave this film feeling exhausted. I see so much of my own teenage years in Cusp, and it feels like it will never change, but the transparency and courage as each girl spoke up about how men treat them was new. I hope that this change is enough to make the next big step not take another 15 years.
