By Anne Brodie
Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight is a sad reminder of the evils of colonialism and how racists are created. Lexi Venter is seven-year-old Bobo, the white Rhodesian child of a solider and a homemaker (Embeth Davidtz who also wrote, directed and produced the film with Trevor Noah) is a wild child. Her mother lets her run free, or rather doesn’t notice her. Bobo smokes, rides a motorcycle, stinks because she never bathes. Her mother’s a hopeless, self-pitying alcoholic who loves one thing – her horse. While she lies passed out on the couch, Bobo cycles around with her rifle and feels free to stare with disdain at Africans. She repeats the racist things her mother says. Her mother strongly denies she’s a racist. Bobo’s mother figure is Sarah (Zikhona Bali) a caring and helpful servant who sparks Bobo’s imagination with stories and the traditions of her people. They’re in the midst of an all-out war as Rhodesians struggle to take back the country that will become Zimbabwe. Bobo’s family farm is surrounded by hills; they’re conscious of prying eyes and the potential of being killed; twelve white missionaries have just been murdered. Poverty-stricken blacks on the side of the road beg for food while the white country club set, dressed in whites, clink glasses. Racism is plain and out in the open and Bobo may become one of them. Every person, white and black, is armed. Headstrong, thoughtless mother picks a fight with a black family just having lunch on their vast farm but she’s about to get hers. Her absent husband’s selling the farm, driving her into a drunken frenzy; she feels protected there, with her precious horses she values over her own child. Based on the memoir by Alexandra Fuller. In theatres July 18.
Untamed now on Netflix isn’t the kind of film we generally cover at What She Said. We try to keep things women-oriented but the photo of Eric Bana on horseback riding thorough Yosemite Park piqued my interest. Hey! I’m not going anywhere for vacation this year so I thought if I’d enjoy visiting the 748,000 -acre wild preserve, albeit once removed, so our readers might too. This is six episodes of highly bingeable viewing. Its well-written, directed and produced and Bana’s on fire. This seriously moody, almost poetic tale begins as two rock climbers tackle a steep, high rock cliff face (the cinematography might give you the spins) when suddenly, a dead woman comes crashing down and lands in their lines. Did she fall or jump? Federal agent Kyle Turner (Bana) believes she was murdered, and that the assailants will be too far away now to catch. Probably on horseback, the quiet ride, at night. Tucker’s new sidekick, former LA cop Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) is certain the woman was running from something and the wild animals got to her. Turner’s a bitter, haunted person who sees the good in no one and nothing, except the great outdoors; just divorced, and haunted by the death of his toddler son he has dark thoughts and a hard heart. Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down is his jam. Just before a meteorite shower, his indigenous friend remarks that bodies are falling like stars – he’s not wrong. A middle-aged man has recently gone missing as many do each year in the park and a teenager Tucker ordered to ask questions in his drug crowd is murdered. The dead woman has no shoes and no ID, just a striking, rare gold tattoo. And then an anonymous text tells him to drop his investigation. While checking out an abandoned cabin in a field with fresh bloodstains, a bear crashes through the wall at him. And Vasquez then finds a possible connection between the woman and a child missing for years. Wow. Untamed is an exceptional series that stinks of authenticity and delicious dread.
Looking for pure, unadulterated sitcom southern cornpone? Leanne, on Netflix, consisting of sixteen very short episodes, finds a southern woman (Leanne Morgan) at the end of her rope. The southern twangs even on Kistin Johnson who plays her sister Carol, is thick as hot pavement. Leanne’s husband Bill (Ryan Stiles) of 33 years has left her for a younger woman but she hasn’t told the kids yet. Carol flies to her side, and quickly realises she’s in for it. As loving and supportive as she is, Leanne’s demanding neediness surfaces and how, forcing Carol to sleep in her bed with her and listen to Leanne’s howls, tears, snarky remarks and one liners about him and marriage as an institution. Sometimes Leanne gets her rifle out, weird choice for a sitcom as the show swings in 33 directions all at once; confused, loosely woven and missing the mark. Leanne’s daughter Josie (Hannah Pikes) drinks and drugs already so the news isn’t going to help anyone. Leanne’s son Tyler (Graham Rogers) seems to be the only regular guy. Their home in Knoxville, Tennessee looks like an old plantation and I wonder if its past will be addressed. Leanne and Carol head off to a bar one night and meet two fellas who dump them for younger women. Next day, she’s off to her lawyers to start divorce proceedings and Bill shows up to say he made a mistake. I dunno. I was afraid someone would start praising Trump and Project 2025 so I stopped there. Produced by veteran sitcom creator Chuck Lorre and Morgan. Begins streaming July 31st.
Podcaster Jennie Bovard’s Low Vision Moments on her blindness and albinism has led to a comedy series, airing on AMI – Accessible Media Inc. on TV and online, in partnership with Jonathan Torrens. Pretty Blind – a terrific title! – sheds light on her experiences out in the world. She encounters folks who ask her to describe her “condition” which is intrusive and creates “otherness”. Our sitcom heroine lives alone, cooks, grocery shops, drivers her scooter and does all the things just fine, thank you. And ironically she works in a library. The series is fact-based and an informative platform that’s also a comedy, a “cathartic expression of the frustrations many people with disabilities experience daily”. It begins as Jennie’s dealing with her recent breakup. She’s coping and looking for a new roommate but before she can put out the call, her bestie Veronica (Jessica Barry) announces she’s moving in. She’s energetic, fun, funny and understands Jennie’s personality, limitations and strengths but she’s a lot. The library’s a good spot working with colleagues who also understand but she must deal with the curiosity of clients who are unable to imagine how she functions. Nunyabizness. And then there are moments like getting on the wrong bus and trying to find her way to where she’s mean to be going. Its amusing and a wakeup call for all of us who might stick their noses in where they don’t belong, and it inspires admiration and understanding. Now on AMI-tv and AMI+ across Canada.