Latest news with #EmbethDavidtz
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Movie Review: War, through one child's extraordinary eyes, in 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight'
'Are we racists?' That's the blunt question posed by Bobo, a white girl living on a farm in Africa, to her horrified (and defensive) mother. There are so many ways this three-word line reading could land wrongly — or just seem forced or mannered. But it feels thoroughly organic when voiced by Lexi Venter, an extraordinary first-time actor who gives, at age 7, one of the more compelling child performances in recent memory in 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.' It's a performance that was seeded, watered and nurtured by Embeth Davidtz, an extraordinary actor herself who wrote, directed and stars in this adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's admired 2001 memoir. One imagines Davidtz, in her triple role (and as a first-time director), had hundreds upon hundreds of decisions to make. Her most important, though, was finding and casting this youngster possessed of a wild nature, a mop of unruly hair and a face like a broad canvas waiting to be painted. The movie, which chronicles one family's life in the turbulent, waning days of white rule in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), was not always going to be narrated by a child. Davidtz's first attempt at adapting the memoir, told in third person, was too remote, she herself has said. Then she zoomed in on the idea of telling the tale uniquely from Bobo's perspective. Davidtz, who spent much of her childhood in South Africa, was drawn to the project because it recalled her own experience growing up in a world where racial inequality and violence were everywhere, but none of the adult explanations made much sense. The director's own family life also included, like the Fuller family's, mental illness and alcoholism; she has said that neither the outside world nor home life felt safe. And that's how it is for Bobo, 8 years old when we meet her, the younger of two daughters of Nicola and Tim Fuller. We will soon learn that another daughter died as a toddler in a tragic drowning — one of the reasons Nicola (Davidtz) is so emotionally tied to the family farm, as conveyed in one particularly brutal scene brimming with rage. She may not be native to the land, but her offspring is buried in its soil. We begin with Bobo explaining how she's afraid to go alone to pee in the night. 'Terrorists,' as they've been described by the adults, might lurk anywhere, even on the way to the bathroom, carrying a gun or knife or spear. But imaginary threats are accompanied by real ones. During the day, a trip into town with her mother necessitates an escort vehicle. 'I really hope we don't die in an ambush today,' Bobo says casually to an armed guard. This is a child who helps her Dad pack his ammo at breakfast. The film, shot in South Africa, is set in the days before and after the 1980 parliamentary election — a crucial vote that will bring the Black majority to power in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. Visiting her parents' home, Nicola patronizingly instructs their Black servants which candidate to support. At home, Nicola's desperation rages. She drinks bourbon by the bottle and sleeps with a huge gun. She doesn't spend much time with her daughters, which leaves Bobo plenty of time to hang out with the animals, ride her motorbike, and smoke cigarettes. Such habits earn Bobo the disapproval of her most valued friend, Sarah (Zikhona Bali, in a warm and nuanced performance), one of two adult servants who work on the farm. The other is Jacob (Fumani N. Shilubana), who warns Sarah that her relationship with Bobo is too publicly affectionate in these precarious times. Besides, he tells her, Bobo thinks of her as a 'stupid village girl.' But there is real affection between the two. Privately, they laugh and share stories. And Sarah, conscious of the risks, tries to be the attentive parent Bobo lacks. When she catches the girl, messy-haired and smudgy-faced, smoking — at age 7! — she scolds her. 'There's nothing wrong with me, I'm perfect!' Bobo replies, with the self-belief that comes from a childhood spent bossing around people like Sarah. You can direct moments like this, as Davidtz does expertly while somehow turning in a heartbreaking and increasingly unhinged performance of her own. But you can't manufacture lightning in a bottle — for example, the infectious joy Venter exudes, even while family is losing everything, singing a rowdy song about a stripper. Davidtz has said she searched far and wide to find her star, interviewing experienced child actors but not finding the 'feral' girl she needed. A Facebook search yielded Venter. Davidtz knew she was the right before even meeting her in person. Working with the girl three hours a day, she did not give her a script, but rather provided guidance and let her improvise. Nobody's perfect, though Bobo may think she is. But in Venter's performance, Davidtz has found something pretty close: a child actor who can carry an entire film and never seem like she's acting. Bobo's story has now been told; let's hope we see young Venter telling many more. 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight,' a Sony Pictures Classics release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association 'for violent/bloody images, language, sexual assault, and some underage smoking/drinking.' Running time: 98 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Embeth Davidtz drew on her childhood in Africa to adapt Alexandra Fuller's memoir
In 1974, when it seemed as though everyone was leaving South Africa, Embeth Davidtz's family was going back. Embeth Davidtz drew on her childhood in Africa to adapt Alexandra Fuller's memoir Davidtz, a familiar presence in films and television for over 30 years with memorable roles in everything from 'Schindler's List' to 'Matilda,' was born in the United States to white, South African parents. When she was 8, they decided to return during a time of upheaval. Although the transition from 'innocent New Jersey' was hard, it was also a life-making, character- and imagination-building experience that she's still processing to this day. It's where she grew up. It's where she began acting. And it's where she'd return decades later to direct her first film, 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight,' a poetic and deeply personal adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's memoir about growing up during the Bush War in Zimbabwe, which was then Rhodesia. The film, which was widely praised at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals for its deft handling of complex themes and for the discovery of young newcomer Lexi Venter, opens Friday in limited release and expands nationwide July 18. 'The sun rises and sets on her writing,' Davidtz said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'If anything works, it's because of that memoir.' Like so many people, especially those who lived in Africa in the 1970s and '80s, Davidtz devoured the book when it came out in 2001. But it would take more than 15 years to start seriously thinking about a film. Davidtz was refocusing after a little hiatus from acting: She'd survived breast cancer, raised children and was reflecting on parts of the book she loved, like Fuller's mother, a complex figure who struggled with trauma, alcohol and mental health. Davidtz, who is now 59, could have hardly predicted that this journey would lead to her writing, directing and producing her first feature as well. 'It felt like an imperative. It felt like a call,' she said. 'Once I dug my teeth into this, I felt like I couldn't not tell it.' The adaptation was slow-going but rewarding as Davidtz sprinkled some of her own stories and recollections in and the focus and structure of the story started to reveal itself. A pivotal revelation came four years in: It had to be from the child's point of view. 'I wasn't thinking about directing it, but at the end, I thought, you know what? I know what kind of shots I like. I know what sort of films I like. I could shoot this so simply,' she said. 'I need to take control of this because if I give it away to someone else, they're not going to tell the story that I'm trying to tell.' Davidtz was inspired by Terrence Malick films like 'Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven,' and the young girls' narrations, as well as Steven Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun,' in which the end of a colonial regime is seen through the eyes of a young, white boy. 'People say, 'Oh, voiceover is so lazy,'' Davidtz said. 'But with a child you hear the quirks, you hear the offbeat, you hear what is wrong and the point of view that is skewed.' To play Bobo, the 8-year-old center of the film, Davidtz did not want a polished child actor. She wanted a real kid — a wild, little barefoot child, unspoiled and unsophisticated, who could maybe ride a motorbike. They eventually resorted to a Facebook post which led them to Venter, age 7. 'It was such a project of love and torture,' she said. 'It was so very hard to direct a 7-year-old who doesn't act.' Venter wasn't given a script. Davidtz instead played games, would give her some lines to say and then pour through the footage to find the most unfiltered moments to sprinkle into the film with the overlaying voiceover — a yawn, the picking of a wedgie, the things kids just do. 'I got a few gray hairs from that, but I love her. She's perfect,' Davidtz said. 'I worry that I have brought her into the world in a way that, cinematically, people will seek her out. I want her to be left to be the wild little creature that she is.' Filming took place in South Africa as Zimbabwe was too unstable and didn't have the infrastructure for film. And Davidtz filled the production with an entirely South African crew and cast, including Zikhona Bali as Sarah, who works for Bobo's family. Authenticity was paramount to Davidtz, from the music to the props and costumes, many of which she sourced herself, including a tattered silk robe she found on eBay. 'I remember someone saying, why don't you cast Morgan Freeman and bring him out. I said, 'No, it's got to be the real thing. It's got to be the real people,'' she said. 'Everyone carries the burden of what was there.' She's acutely aware that South Africa is not Zimbabwe and the dismantling of white rule differed in each, but there are similarities, too. It allowed her to ask questions about what happens to children surrounded by violence and generational racism through Bobo's lens. Though she worried about the optics of telling the story from a white child's point of view, she also didn't waver. 'That's what I remember and that's what I saw,' she said. 'There's a way of informing and telling what you saw that can teach. My connection to my past, as risky as it was, there was nothing to be lost.' Early audiences seem to be receiving it the way she hoped. For Davidtz, it hardly matters what happens now — awards, box office, whatever. 'I don't think I was ever the wisest person about what I would choose material-wise or business-wise,' she said. 'But it's so great that I, at almost 60, got this chance to do this. Whatever ends up happening, it got made. That's a miracle.' This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Embeth Davidtz drew on her childhood in Africa to adapt Alexandra Fuller's memoir
In 1974, when it seemed as though everyone was leaving South Africa, Embeth Davidtz's family was going back. Davidtz, a familiar presence in films and television for over 30 years with memorable roles in everything from 'Schindler's List' to 'Matilda,' was born in the United States to white, South African parents. When she was 8, they decided to return during a time of upheaval. Although the transition from 'innocent New Jersey' was hard, it was also a life-making, character- and imagination-building experience that she's still processing to this day. It's where she grew up. It's where she began acting. And it's where she'd return decades later to direct her first film, 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight,' a poetic and deeply personal adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's memoir about growing up during the Bush War in Zimbabwe, which was then Rhodesia. The film, which was widely praised at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals for its deft handling of complex themes and for the discovery of young newcomer Lexi Venter, opens Friday in limited release and expands nationwide July 18. 'The sun rises and sets on her writing,' Davidtz said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'If anything works, it's because of that memoir.' Becoming a director in her mid-50s Like so many people, especially those who lived in Africa in the 1970s and '80s, Davidtz devoured the book when it came out in 2001. But it would take more than 15 years to start seriously thinking about a film. Davidtz was refocusing after a little hiatus from acting: She'd survived breast cancer, raised children and was reflecting on parts of the book she loved, like Fuller's mother, a complex figure who struggled with trauma, alcohol and mental health. Davidtz, who is now 59, could have hardly predicted that this journey would lead to her writing, directing and producing her first feature as well. 'It felt like an imperative. It felt like a call,' she said. 'Once I dug my teeth into this, I felt like I couldn't not tell it.' The adaptation was slow-going but rewarding as Davidtz sprinkled some of her own stories and recollections in and the focus and structure of the story started to reveal itself. A pivotal revelation came four years in: It had to be from the child's point of view. 'I wasn't thinking about directing it, but at the end, I thought, you know what? I know what kind of shots I like. I know what sort of films I like. I could shoot this so simply,' she said. 'I need to take control of this because if I give it away to someone else, they're not going to tell the story that I'm trying to tell.' Finding a real child, not a child actor Davidtz was inspired by Terrence Malick films like 'Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven,' and the young girls' narrations, as well as Steven Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun,' in which the end of a colonial regime is seen through the eyes of a young, white boy. 'People say, 'Oh, voiceover is so lazy,'' Davidtz said. 'But with a child you hear the quirks, you hear the offbeat, you hear what is wrong and the point of view that is skewed.' To play Bobo, the 8-year-old center of the film, Davidtz did not want a polished child actor. She wanted a real kid — a wild, little barefoot child, unspoiled and unsophisticated, who could maybe ride a motorbike. They eventually resorted to a Facebook post which led them to Venter, age 7. 'It was such a project of love and torture,' she said. 'It was so very hard to direct a 7-year-old who doesn't act.' Venter wasn't given a script. Davidtz instead played games, would give her some lines to say and then pour through the footage to find the most unfiltered moments to sprinkle into the film with the overlaying voiceover — a yawn, the picking of a wedgie, the things kids just do. 'I got a few gray hairs from that, but I love her. She's perfect,' Davidtz said. 'I worry that I have brought her into the world in a way that, cinematically, people will seek her out. I want her to be left to be the wild little creature that she is.' A South African cast and crew Filming took place in South Africa as Zimbabwe was too unstable and didn't have the infrastructure for film. And Davidtz filled the production with an entirely South African crew and cast, including Zikhona Bali as Sarah, who works for Bobo's family. Authenticity was paramount to Davidtz, from the music to the props and costumes, many of which she sourced herself, including a tattered silk robe she found on eBay. 'I remember someone saying, why don't you cast Morgan Freeman and bring him out. I said, 'No, it's got to be the real thing. It's got to be the real people,'' she said. 'Everyone carries the burden of what was there.' She's acutely aware that South Africa is not Zimbabwe and the dismantling of white rule differed in each, but there are similarities, too. It allowed her to ask questions about what happens to children surrounded by violence and generational racism through Bobo's lens. Though she worried about the optics of telling the story from a white child's point of view, she also didn't waver. 'That's what I remember and that's what I saw,' she said. 'There's a way of informing and telling what you saw that can teach. My connection to my past, as risky as it was, there was nothing to be lost.' Early audiences seem to be receiving it the way she hoped. For Davidtz, it hardly matters what happens now — awards, box office, whatever. 'I don't think I was ever the wisest person about what I would choose material-wise or business-wise,' she said. 'But it's so great that I, at almost 60, got this chance to do this. Whatever ends up happening, it got made. That's a miracle.'
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Embeth Davidtz drew on her childhood in Africa to adapt Alexandra Fuller's memoir
In 1974, when it seemed as though everyone was leaving South Africa, Embeth Davidtz's family was going back. Davidtz, a familiar presence in films and television for over 30 years with memorable roles in everything from 'Schindler's List' to 'Matilda,' was born in the United States to white, South African parents. When she was 8, they decided to return during a time of upheaval. Although the transition from 'innocent New Jersey' was hard, it was also a life-making, character- and imagination-building experience that she's still processing to this day. It's where she grew up. It's where she began acting. And it's where she'd return decades later to direct her first film, 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight,' a poetic and deeply personal adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's memoir about growing up during the Bush War in Zimbabwe, which was then Rhodesia. The film, which was widely praised at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals for its deft handling of complex themes and for the discovery of young newcomer Lexi Venter, opens Friday in limited release and expands nationwide July 18. 'The sun rises and sets on her writing,' Davidtz said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'If anything works, it's because of that memoir.' Becoming a director in her mid-50s Like so many people, especially those who lived in Africa in the 1970s and '80s, Davidtz devoured the book when it came out in 2001. But it would take more than 15 years to start seriously thinking about a film. Davidtz was refocusing after a little hiatus from acting: She'd survived breast cancer, raised children and was reflecting on parts of the book she loved, like Fuller's mother, a complex figure who struggled with trauma, alcohol and mental health. Davidtz, who is now 59, could have hardly predicted that this journey would lead to her writing, directing and producing her first feature as well. 'It felt like an imperative. It felt like a call,' she said. 'Once I dug my teeth into this, I felt like I couldn't not tell it.' The adaptation was slow-going but rewarding as Davidtz sprinkled some of her own stories and recollections in and the focus and structure of the story started to reveal itself. A pivotal revelation came four years in: It had to be from the child's point of view. 'I wasn't thinking about directing it, but at the end, I thought, you know what? I know what kind of shots I like. I know what sort of films I like. I could shoot this so simply,' she said. 'I need to take control of this because if I give it away to someone else, they're not going to tell the story that I'm trying to tell.' Finding a real child, not a child actor Davidtz was inspired by Terrence Malick films like 'Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven,' and the young girls' narrations, as well as Steven Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun,' in which the end of a colonial regime is seen through the eyes of a young, white boy. 'People say, 'Oh, voiceover is so lazy,'' Davidtz said. 'But with a child you hear the quirks, you hear the offbeat, you hear what is wrong and the point of view that is skewed.' To play Bobo, the 8-year-old center of the film, Davidtz did not want a polished child actor. She wanted a real kid — a wild, little barefoot child, unspoiled and unsophisticated, who could maybe ride a motorbike. They eventually resorted to a Facebook post which led them to Venter, age 7. 'It was such a project of love and torture,' she said. 'It was so very hard to direct a 7-year-old who doesn't act.' Venter wasn't given a script. Davidtz instead played games, would give her some lines to say and then pour through the footage to find the most unfiltered moments to sprinkle into the film with the overlaying voiceover — a yawn, the picking of a wedgie, the things kids just do. 'I got a few gray hairs from that, but I love her. She's perfect,' Davidtz said. 'I worry that I have brought her into the world in a way that, cinematically, people will seek her out. I want her to be left to be the wild little creature that she is.' A South African cast and crew Filming took place in South Africa as Zimbabwe was too unstable and didn't have the infrastructure for film. And Davidtz filled the production with an entirely South African crew and cast, including Zikhona Bali as Sarah, who works for Bobo's family. Authenticity was paramount to Davidtz, from the music to the props and costumes, many of which she sourced herself, including a tattered silk robe she found on eBay. 'I remember someone saying, why don't you cast Morgan Freeman and bring him out. I said, 'No, it's got to be the real thing. It's got to be the real people,'' she said. 'Everyone carries the burden of what was there.' She's acutely aware that South Africa is not Zimbabwe and the dismantling of white rule differed in each, but there are similarities, too. It allowed her to ask questions about what happens to children surrounded by violence and generational racism through Bobo's lens. Though she worried about the optics of telling the story from a white child's point of view, she also didn't waver. 'That's what I remember and that's what I saw,' she said. 'There's a way of informing and telling what you saw that can teach. My connection to my past, as risky as it was, there was nothing to be lost.' Early audiences seem to be receiving it the way she hoped. For Davidtz, it hardly matters what happens now — awards, box office, whatever. 'I don't think I was ever the wisest person about what I would choose material-wise or business-wise,' she said. 'But it's so great that I, at almost 60, got this chance to do this. Whatever ends up happening, it got made. That's a miracle.'
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Embeth Davidtz drew on her childhood in Africa to adapt Alexandra Fuller's memoir
In 1974, when it seemed as though everyone was leaving South Africa, Embeth Davidtz's family was going back. Davidtz, a familiar presence in films and television for over 30 years with memorable roles in everything from 'Schindler's List' to 'Matilda,' was born in the United States to white, South African parents. When she was 8, they decided to return during a time of upheaval. Although the transition from 'innocent New Jersey' was hard, it was also a life-making, character- and imagination-building experience that she's still processing to this day. It's where she grew up. It's where she began acting. And it's where she'd return decades later to direct her first film, 'Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight,' a poetic and deeply personal adaptation of Alexandra Fuller's memoir about growing up during the Bush War in Zimbabwe, which was then Rhodesia. The film, which was widely praised at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals for its deft handling of complex themes and for the discovery of young newcomer Lexi Venter, opens Friday in limited release and expands nationwide July 18. 'The sun rises and sets on her writing,' Davidtz said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'If anything works, it's because of that memoir.' Becoming a director in her mid-50s Like so many people, especially those who lived in Africa in the 1970s and '80s, Davidtz devoured the book when it came out in 2001. But it would take more than 15 years to start seriously thinking about a film. Davidtz was refocusing after a little hiatus from acting: She'd survived breast cancer, raised children and was reflecting on parts of the book she loved, like Fuller's mother, a complex figure who struggled with trauma, alcohol and mental health. Davidtz, who is now 59, could have hardly predicted that this journey would lead to her writing, directing and producing her first feature as well. 'It felt like an imperative. It felt like a call,' she said. 'Once I dug my teeth into this, I felt like I couldn't not tell it.' The adaptation was slow-going but rewarding as Davidtz sprinkled some of her own stories and recollections in and the focus and structure of the story started to reveal itself. A pivotal revelation came four years in: It had to be from the child's point of view. 'I wasn't thinking about directing it, but at the end, I thought, you know what? I know what kind of shots I like. I know what sort of films I like. I could shoot this so simply,' she said. 'I need to take control of this because if I give it away to someone else, they're not going to tell the story that I'm trying to tell.' Finding a real child, not a child actor Davidtz was inspired by Terrence Malick films like 'Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven,' and the young girls' narrations, as well as Steven Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun,' in which the end of a colonial regime is seen through the eyes of a young, white boy. 'People say, 'Oh, voiceover is so lazy,'' Davidtz said. 'But with a child you hear the quirks, you hear the offbeat, you hear what is wrong and the point of view that is skewed.' To play Bobo, the 8-year-old center of the film, Davidtz did not want a polished child actor. She wanted a real kid — a wild, little barefoot child, unspoiled and unsophisticated, who could maybe ride a motorbike. They eventually resorted to a Facebook post which led them to Venter, age 7. 'It was such a project of love and torture,' she said. 'It was so very hard to direct a 7-year-old who doesn't act.' Venter wasn't given a script. Davidtz instead played games, would give her some lines to say and then pour through the footage to find the most unfiltered moments to sprinkle into the film with the overlaying voiceover — a yawn, the picking of a wedgie, the things kids just do. 'I got a few gray hairs from that, but I love her. She's perfect,' Davidtz said. 'I worry that I have brought her into the world in a way that, cinematically, people will seek her out. I want her to be left to be the wild little creature that she is.' A South African cast and crew Filming took place in South Africa as Zimbabwe was too unstable and didn't have the infrastructure for film. And Davidtz filled the production with an entirely South African crew and cast, including Zikhona Bali as Sarah, who works for Bobo's family. Authenticity was paramount to Davidtz, from the music to the props and costumes, many of which she sourced herself, including a tattered silk robe she found on eBay. 'I remember someone saying, why don't you cast Morgan Freeman and bring him out. I said, 'No, it's got to be the real thing. It's got to be the real people,'' she said. 'Everyone carries the burden of what was there.' She's acutely aware that South Africa is not Zimbabwe and the dismantling of white rule differed in each, but there are similarities, too. It allowed her to ask questions about what happens to children surrounded by violence and generational racism through Bobo's lens. Though she worried about the optics of telling the story from a white child's point of view, she also didn't waver. 'That's what I remember and that's what I saw,' she said. 'There's a way of informing and telling what you saw that can teach. My connection to my past, as risky as it was, there was nothing to be lost.' Early audiences seem to be receiving it the way she hoped. For Davidtz, it hardly matters what happens now — awards, box office, whatever. 'I don't think I was ever the wisest person about what I would choose material-wise or business-wise,' she said. 'But it's so great that I, at almost 60, got this chance to do this. Whatever ends up happening, it got made. That's a miracle.'
