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Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight
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Synopsis
Depicts 8-year-old Bobo's life on her family's Rhodesian farm during the Bush War's final stages. It explores the family's bond with Africa's land and the war's impact on the region and individuals through Bobo's perspective.
Moviegoers are saying
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight divides audiences with its unflinching portrayal of 1980 Rhodesia through a white child's eyes, earning praise for Lexi Venter's exceptional child performance and Embeth Davidtz's bold directorial debut, while facing intense criticism for its problematic perspective on colonialism and revolution. The film's atmospheric cinematography and compelling lead performance can't overcome what many reviewers see as a fundamental failure to properly address the horrors of white supremacy and colonialism.
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Summary generated from the text of Atom User reviews
Letterboxd User Reviews
3.2
4.6K
1.7K
874
- Jul 7, 2025
Gotta be up there with the worst movie titles of all time
Brett ArnoldJun 24, 2025Yes, the lead child actress gave a great performance, and the cinematography was compelling in one or two places, but that’s just about where the buck stops for me. As a first gen Zimbabwean-American, the bastardizing of a revolution that my family lived through was…
commediaAug 31, 2024“The Africans said they found it first and turned into terrorists.” I don't think this is the proper way to handle the material. There's gestures towards the evils of colonialism and the way it systematically dehumanizes, but in ending the way it did? Rubbed me the wrong…
Ryan Rosu - Jul 23, 2025
I have two problems with this movie. One, these kinds of movies that are 90% atmosphere and 10% story — where everything moves painfully slowly and the film is filled with long, lingering shots of plants, animals, peoples’ legs, etc. — are always a heavy lift for me. And…
Adam ForrestSep 2, 2024DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT contains a really excellent child performance from Lexi Venter and is well-filmed by Embeth Davidtz, as she makes her feature directorial debut adapting the memoir of the same name. However, the perspective of the story, unresolved…
Matt NegliaJun 12, 2025Imagine the kids from “Beast of the Southern Wild” and “The Florida Project” rolled up into a white girl living in Rhodesia in 1980 during a civil war between whites settlers and black natives. Oy! It is a very well made movie but it’s a ticking bomb and the director…
Cary NewYorker - Sep 15, 2024
I think it's an understatement to say that I really hate the narrative and perspective of this film. The cinematography was the best part in my opinion. The rest felt like something of an anti-The Zone of Interest; a film about monstrous people that asks you to sympathize…
Brian (DocHikes)Jul 5, 2025The release of this film is tough when it's released on the same day as Superman. If you can, I'd still encourage anyone to go see this film. There's a lot of great stuff here between the performances, the direction, and the way we looked at things when we were kids. Full…
CinemaCollectFeb 13, 2026just a girl discovering the hardships of life!
duda 🎀
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Top Reviews
- simplyasimo is "meh" onDon't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
It was an interesting watch.
Atom User Reviews
Metacritic
Aug 24, 2025
Precisely the sort of intelligent, human-scale adult drama audiences insist no one makes anymore.
Peter Debruge
Variety
Jul 18, 2025
The bones of this memory play are familiar, but Davidtz is a natural filmmaker, and the sense of a tattered but privileged world teetering on extinction is visualized with fresh and evocative details.
Ty Burr
Washington Post
Jul 14, 2025
The grand takeaway is Venter’s astonishing turn. That kid’s got a future, and it began with a filmmaker who knew how to direct her: with patient energy while also encouraging the freedom to play and seek and explore as Bobo does within her little big world.
Ryan Lattanzio
IndieWire
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