Film Review - The Power of the Dog (12A)

 He's just a man, Peter. Only another man.

Gist: Phil and George Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons) are well-heeled ranch owning brothers in 1920s Montana - Phil a grimy and uncultivated son of the range, and George his mild-mannered, soft-spoken opposite. The status quo of their working relationship is challenged when, on a cattle drive, George meets and falls for widowed inn owner Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst). Phil, however, takes an instant dislike to her, convinced that she's more interested in George's money than in him. His contempt is no less intense for Rose's son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who as a willowy and effeminate teenage boy is the antithesis of everything George and his fellow cattle-drivers hold to be masculine. George is actively antagonistic to the Roses, but surfaces belie unexpected depths in more than one of these closely entangled characters, taking them down a path that defies all prediction. 

Juice: Thirteen years have passed since Kiwi director Jane Campion's last feature film, and it took a near-forgotten Western novel by Thomas Savage to spur her into directorial action. It's not hard to see why. The Power of the Dog may lend itself to magnificently shot vistas reminiscent of the classic John Ford/John Wayne era, but aside from that this tale is more American Gothic in nature - a stately paced and dark human drama that peels away the layers of its characters' psyches till raw truth is laid bare. And it's not any truth you'd expect. Directed and shot with forensic expertise (Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner exhibits the same brilliance she showed in 2016's Lady Macbeth), these characters are scrutinised as deeply as the unforgiving landscape on which their fates play out. The quietly unsettling drama is complimented too by Jonny Greenwood's atonal, stripped-down music; he created an equally inspired score for last year's Spencer, but this one may just land the Radiohead maestro his much-deserved Oscar. 

Speaking of Oscars, all four of The Power of the Dog's key players are nominated in the acting categories. Plemon's understated gentleman rancher is up against Smit-McPhee's enigmatic youngster in the supporting actor category, while Dunst should run her supporting actress competitors a tight race as the compassionate but fragile Rose. And Cumberbatch, arguably surpassing all earlier work as his character's complexities are teased out, has perhaps the best shot at an award this fiercely contested year. He's sufficiently compelling in the movie's first act where Phil's macho charisma is pure antagonism, but even more so as the narrative bores deep into the rancher's calloused soul. 

Judgement: 9/10. Campion's atypical Western (settings in place, but genre-wise undercutting every Wild West trope you can think of) will be rather too slow-burn and alienating for some tastes, and that's fair enough. As meticulous drama that opts for psychological conflict over physical, and subtle character revelations over wilder plot-twists, this film will, however, win many fans. It's outstanding work from all involved, and deserves its crop of nominations. Plus, all dramatic subtleties aside, the ending packs quite the unexpected wallop. (Unless of course you get that cunning reference in the title. I should have, but I didn't.)