Overview

• Denis adapts Bernard‑Marie Koltès’s Black Battles with Dogs into a tightly contained drama set at a West African construction site.
• Reviews single out Isaach de Bankolé’s presence, with Matt Dillon, Tom Blyth and Mia McKenna‑Bruce rounding out the core cast.
• Éric Gautier’s cinematography is widely credited with creating an oppressive, purgatorial mood.
• Several critics fault stage‑bound writing and a deterministic structure that limits emotional payoff.
• Following its TIFF premiere, the film is courting U.S. buyers as Denis frames the story as a look at modern “commercial colonialism.”