Movie Reviews
‘Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight’ Review: An Extraordinary Adaptation Takes a Child’s-Eye View of an African Civil War
Alexandra Fuller‘s bestselling 2001 memoir of growing up in Africa is so cinematic, full of personal drama and political upheaval against a vivid landscape, that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been turned into a film before. But it was worth waiting for Embeth Davidtz’s eloquent adaptation, which depicts a child’s-eye view of the civil war that created the country of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia — a change the girl’s white colonial parents fiercely resisted.
Davidtz, known as an actress (Schindler’s List, among many others), directs and wrote the screenplay for Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and stars as Fuller’s sad, alcoholic mother. Or, actually, co-stars, because the entire movie rests on the tiny shoulders and remarkably lifelike performance of Lexi Venter — just 7 when the picture, her first, was shot. It is a bold risk to put so much weight on a child’s work, but like so many of Davidtz’s choices here, it also turns out to be shrewd.
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
The Bottom Line Near perfection.
Venue: Telluride Film Festival
Cast: Lexi Venter, Embeth Davidtz, Zikhona Bali, Fumani N Shilubana, Rob Van Vuuren, Anina Hope Reed
Director-screenwriter: Embeth Davidtz
1 hour 38 minutes
Another those smart calls is to focus intensely on one period of Fuller’s childhood. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is set in 1980, just before and during the election that would bring the country’s Black majority to power. Bobo, as Fuller was called, is a raggedy kid with a perpetually dirty face and uncombed hair, who’s seen at times riding a motorbike or sneaking cigarettes. She runs around the family farm, whose run-down look and dusty ground tell of a hardscrabble existence. The film was shot in South Africa, and Willie Nel’s cinematography, with glaring bright light, suggests the scorching feel of the sun.
Much of the story is told in Bobo’s voiceover, in Venter’s completely natural delivery, and in another daring and effective choice, all of it is told from her point of view. Davidtz’s screenplay deftly lets us hear and see the racism that surrounds the child, and the ideas that she has innocently taken in from her parents. And we recognize the emotional cost of the war, even when Bobo doesn’t. She often mentions terrorists, saying she is afraid to go into the bathroom alone at night in case there’s one waiting for her “with a knife or a gun or a spear.” She keeps an eye out for them while riding into town in the family car with an armed convoy. “Africans turned into terrorists and that’s how the war started,” she explains, parroting what she has heard.
At one point, the convoy glides past an affluent white neighborhood. That glimpse helps Davidtz situate the Fullers, putting their assumptions of privilege into context. Bobo has absorbed those notions without quite losing her innocence. Referring to the family’s servants, her voiceover says that Sarah (Zikhona Bali) and Jacob (Fumani N. Shilubana) live on the farm, and that “Africans don’t have last names.” Bobo adores Sarah and the stories she tells from her own culture, but Bobo also feels that she can boss Sarah around.
Venter is astonishing throughout. In close-up, she looks wide-eyed and aghast when visiting her grandfather, who has apparently had a stroke. At another point, she says of her mother, “Mum says she’d trade all of us for a horse and her dogs.” When she says, after the briefest pause, “But I know that’s not true,” her tone is not one of defiant disbelief or childlike belief, as might have been expected. It’s more nuanced, with a hint of sadness that suggests a realization just beyond her young grasp. Davidtz surely had a lot to do with that, and her editor, Nicholas Contaras, has cut all Bobo’s scenes into a sharply perfect length. Nonetheless, Venter’s work here brings to mind Anna Paquin, who won an Oscar as a child for her thoroughly believable role as a girl also who sees more than she knows in The Piano.
The largely South African cast displays the same naturalism as Venter, creating a consistent tone. Rob Van Vuuren plays Bobo’s father, who is at times away fighting, and Anina Hope Reed is her older sister. Bali and Shilubana are especially impressive as Sarah and Jacob, their portrayals suggesting a resistance to white rule that the characters can’t always speak out loud.
Davidtz has a showier role as Nicola Fuller. (The movie doesn’t explain its title, which hails from the early 20th century writer A.P Herbert’s line, “Don’t let’s go the dogs tonight, for mother will be there.”) Once, Nicola shoots a snake in the kitchen and calmly wanders off, ordering Jacob to bring her tea. More often, Bobo watches her mother drift around the house or sit on the porch in an alcoholic fog. But when her voiceover tells us about the little sister who drowned, we fathom the grief behind Nicola’s depression. And wrong-headed though she is, we understand her fury and distress when the election results make her feel that she is about to lose the country she thinks of as home. Davidtz gives herself a scene at a neighborhood dance that goes on a bit too long, but it’s the rare sequence that does.
There is more of Fuller’s memoir that might be a source for other adaptations. It is hard to imagine any would be more beautifully realized than this.
Often when the word of mouth begins to spread and hype the newest “best movie ever”, the viewer has to take these opinions with a mound of salt. But as the week two financial gate for Obsession jumped over twice as high as its debut, people started paying attention. With a Youtuber at the helm and the critics lauding this romantic horror film as the second coming, it was time for this particular reviewer to see what the hype was all about.
Obsession is written and directed by Curry Barker (Milk & Serial 2024). It stars Inde Navarrette (Superman & Lois TV Series 2021) as Nikki and Michael Johnston (9-1-1 TV Series 2026) as Bear. Bear is in love with Nikki, but he lacks the gumption to ask her out. On a whim, the bashful Bear buys a “One Wish Willow”, a magical totem that, when broken, allows the bearer one granted wish. Bear wishes for Nikki to love him, but this love comes at the ultimate cost.
The acting is the first thing that the audience will become obsessed with in Obsession. Navarrette is poised for a breakout year and would fit very well as a new-age “final girl” in the horror genre. Johnston is no slouch either, as he brings a lot of layers to Bear, but Navarrette is the one that’ll haunt your dreams for weeks. The actors told the stories on their faces, and Navarrette’s sudden screams make for the most natural jump-scares in ages.
Obsession also thrives in its technical prowess. The quiet sound design and still characters make the movie a genuinely unsettling experience. The usage of rewinding shots gives Nikki a chilling economy of movement, while speeding up shots creates sudden peril and makes scenes instantly uncomfortable. The viewer never gets a chance to truly catch their breath, but the stakes continue to grow with every scene.
It’s very easy to see why Obsession has audiences buzzing. It’s the kind of movie that’s going to hold a spot at the top of lists at year’s end, but if the chance arises to see it in a large theater, the experience will be even more rewarding.
Starring: Marshall Williams, Richard Harmon and Alex Essoe
Directed by: James Kondelik
Rated: NR
Running Time: 108 minutes
Our Score: 1.5 out of 5 Stars
Survival horror is the ultimate guilty pleasure because you can amplify any life-or-death situation into the paranormal, horrific, thrilling, or cruelly dramatic extremes it finds itself in. So why doesn’t “Pitfall” come close to tickling “The Ritual,” “The Blair Witch Project,” or “Wolf Creek” vibes?
Woods and grief feel like a ritualistic trope at this point as “Pitfall” opens on Scott (Marshall Williams) and Ashley (Alex Essoe) mourning the death of their parents. For reasons that may or may not be revealed later, they join three friends on an ominous trip that quickly introduces the titular pitfall, a massive trap designed to kill prey.
The movie constantly battles convention with unpredictability. The problem is that at more than 100 minutes long, there’s plenty of time to sit around and wonder where the story is heading. If “Pitfall” moved with the frantic pace of a Tuesday afternoon soap opera on meth, maybe I’d be swept up in the chaos. Instead, I found myself waiting for reveals that felt more eye-rolling than shocking.
I really wanted to like “Pitfall” because of how invested it is in physical violence, emotional trauma, and psychological brutality. Unfortunately, the movie never convinced me it knew what to do with those ideas. By the time it arrives at its revelations and ultimate purpose, “Pitfall” feels less like a title and more like a review.
As a lowkey, throwback family drama, The Breadwinner is an amusing extension of comedian Nate Bargatze’s humor and vibe, providing some breezy entertainment and wholesome messages.
About the Film
The “dads are big dummies around the house” gag is far from a novel idea, but as a skilled comedian knows, it’s not always the subject that matters, but how you talk about it that makes or breaks the joke. Comic Nate Bargatze is as good as anyone at doing that, blending a dry and self-deprecating delivery with a refreshingly clean brand of comedy. His cinematic debut in The Breadwinner is exactly what might be expected. As a lowkey, throwback family drama, The Breadwinner is an amusing cinematic extension of comedian Nate Bargatze’s humor and vibe, providing some breezy entertainment and wholesome messages.
As one of the biggest and most influential comics in the world right now, the main draw in The Breadwinner is Nate Bargatze himself. Many Christians have latched onto him due to his trademark “clean comedy” that swims refreshingly upstream of the regular vulgarity and shock jock tendencies in the comedy world. For “clean comedy” to work, both the “clean” and the “comedy” need to be present. The Breadwinner mostly passes the test but does better at the first than the second. It is more a clean and wholesome drama than a hilarious comedy.
During an opening voiceover, Bargatze remarks, “This might sound a bit old fashioned….” He’s speaking about the traditional family dynamic of a husband “breadwinner” and the stay-at-home mom (a family structure the film eventually challenges for a more modern understanding). “Old fashioned” is also a good description of the film itself. The Breadwinner feels a bit like a Christian film made in the 1990s, or as if a sitcom like Full House had ever made a theatrical feature film. Whether this is a harsh criticism or a ringing endorsement may depend on the desires and expectations of the audience.
I suspect that “old fashioned” is exactly what many Christian audiences want. Not “old fashioned” as in “outdated”, but as a nostalgic throwback to a simpler time and to conservative values. Much of the film is exactly that, both a wholesome affirmation of family and a movie that is easily accessible for families. At the same time, some of the film’s messages may be a bit muddy or progressive for some viewers (see themes below).
To be “clean” is only part of the equation, and the absence of vulgarity doesn’t inevitably result in effective “comedy”. My biggest problem with The Breadwinner is that, despite featuring an often-hilarious comic, the movie just isn’t all that funny. This may partially be a matter of taste, and how much (or little) you jive with the comedic sensibilities of Bargatze himself. During the film’s closing credits, recordings of his various standup sets are shown, revealing how his jokes have been directly incorporated into the movie. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the adaption process of jokes from the stage into a film and highlights the synergy between the film and Bargatze’s comedy.
As an observational comic, Bargatze’s strength is in his ability to find hidden humor in the middle of relatable, everyday life (even more relatable to me, as the movie was filmed 10 minutes from my house). While some of the events in the film’s third act do elevate the spectacle and stakes (such as letting a horse loose to inside the house), many of the gags are built on relatable family experiences (keeping up with laundry, cooking, helping emotional children navigate the challenges of growing up ). Hearing Nate Bargatze do a comedy set and find humor in these mundane life experiences can be hilarious, but actually seeing those mundane experiences play out on screen is a bit more, well, mundane.
The Breadwinner is not necessarily boring, but it’s also not always all that exciting. There was no laughing out loud in my theater, and I can’t recall any standout moments that I’d be excited to revisit or to watch with someone else. Basically, all the funniest moments are featured in the movie’s marketing trailers, so how you feel about those is a gauge for how much you will enjoy the film.
Overall, The Breadwinner is fine as a film that will land well with its target audience. Still, I think it would be great as a sitcom show like a real-world Bluey. I genuinely cared about the family and would enjoy spending more time with them. The film’s lowkey stakes and everyday family life vibe would translate perfectly to the small screen while giving Bargatze an opportunity to showcase more comedic range than just a struggling “Mr. Mom”. Even so, fans of Bargatze and his brand of humor, or audiences just looking for some squeaky-clean family entertainment, may find exactly what they’re looking for here. It may not be a great film, but it’s a hard movie to dislike. The Breadwinner has plenty of heart and charm to be endearing and provides enough moderate chuckles to send audiences out of the theater with a smile.
On the Surface
For Consideration
On the Surface—(Profanity, Sexual content, violence, etc.).
Language: There are a few uses of “God.”
Violence: None.
Sexuality: There are a couple mild innuendos (for example, a roofer remarks that his ex-wife left him a review that “his tools don’t get the job done”).
Other: Frequent drug and alcohol abuse is shown.
Beneath The Surface
Engage The Film
Family Dynamics
The central theme in The Breadwinner is identity and where it’s found. Nate Wilcox (Nate Bargatze) finds his identity as the best car salesman at his dealership. He must determine where his purpose and self-worth come from when he’s required to stay at home with the kids while his wife, Katie (played by Mandy Moore), navigates a similarity drastic transition from stay-at-home mom to thriving businesswoman. Their children face similar challenges, struggling to not allow external factors (such as school spelling bee competitions and cute boys) to determine who they are. It’s a wholesome message, and one that works for any age demographic. The film ultimately suggests that identity must come from the love and unity of a family.
Where the message gets a bit muddy is in the nuances of how the film answers those questions. The film’s tagline is “Let the dad era begin.” The so-called “dad era” begins when Nate finally decides that instead of trying to follow mom’s hardline established family organizational system he instead needs to develop a new system that works for him. As a dad myself, the “dad era” is actually pretty great, requiring the children to take on more responsibly while emphasizing trust and partnership rather than a rigid top-down scheduling structure. Nate’s motivations are ultimately selfish (he lies and returns to work) but seeing him as a stay-at-home dad rather than a “poor substitute mom” is commendable. Unfortunately, the film seems to disagree, suggesting that the success of a stay-at-home dad is only in how closely they can mimic mom.
His wife slips effortlessly from stay-at-home mom to big-time business owner, while he is a bumbling disaster as a homemaker. It is seemingly easy to be a working dad and hard to be a domestic mom, falling into the trap of many Hollywood films that struggle to be pro-woman (good!) without also being anti-man (bad!). The Breadwinner doesn’t go quite that far. It’s not anti-man, but it fails to celebrate or show the strengths of dads and men. Even a few moments of Nate helping his wife with her own role reversal would have gone a long way to showcasing the complementary difference and strengths within the family.
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