As we are inching towards the Academy Awards, catching up on all the Best Picture candidates I missed is always a lot of fun. Adapted from the Thomas Savage novel of the same name, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog explores the weight of masculinity on a Montana ranch as one charismatic rancher takes out a lifetime of pain on his brother’s stepson.
Phil Burbank was raised to be a hard-working rancher and he has little tolerance for anything that gets in the way of ranch life. When his brother takes a bride and moves her and her son onto the family property, Phil sets out to make her life miserable. Eventually, he sets his sights on the young man but gets more than he bargained for.
I generally have a soft spot for Westerns and, while this isn’t a traditional entry into the genre, it scratches a number of those itches. Firstly, the film looks amazing. Filmed on location in director Jane Campion’s home country of New Zealand, the sprawling landscapes are breathtaking and cinematographer Ari Wegner really leans into the majesty of the countryside. The sweeping, wide exterior shots that bask in the sunlight are complemented by splendid, natural low-light interior shots. It’s a well-actualized and unspoken piece of the parallel narrative being told and it’s with good reason that Wegner received one of the film’s 12 Oscar nominations.
Jonny Greenwood’s original score is similarly nuanced and derived from some classic cinematic Western influences, but he brings his own unique energy to it. There’s a lot of pain and tension in the string instruments and, during one of the early character introductions, I immediately felt like something bad was going to happen. His invisible hand is there to help guide things the whole way. I thought Greenwood should have won Best Original Score for the Phantom Thread back in 2017, so we’ll see if he gets it this time around.
A quartet of strong performances nails down the film’s core elements, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Kodi-Smit McPhee leading the way. Both of them are nominated for Academy Awards and it’s easy to see why. Cumberbatch has had high-profile roles for quite a while now, but his only other Oscar nod came seven years prior. In perhaps his best performance, Cumberbatch loses himself in Phil Burbank and this version of the American West and distances himself from the familiar buttoned-down types we’ve seen a lot of from him.
Despite an already impressive resume, the 26-year-old McPhee is still coming into his own and this is the kind of performance that will define the next stage of his career. His character, Peter, is physically frail and delicate in a way that is foreign to that time in the West. McPhee has always been slender but it is pronounced (intentionally) by the costuming as another thing to make him stand out. That said, his embodiment of the character and body language is excellent and I can see why he got the nod for Best Supporting.
Kirsten Dunst also delivers a stellar performance as Peter’s mother, Rose Gordon, opposite Jesse Plemons as George Burbank, Phil’s brother. George is already the antithesis of Phil’s preferred ranch behavior and Plemons plays it with the aforementioned buttoned-down smoothness that we often see from Cumberbatch. As he steps further away from the ranch life by taking a new bride, it ruffles his brother’s feathers and Phil is venomous towards Rose as a result. Dunst wears the trauma of that fear in every interaction, practically shaking every time the two share a scene. I am always happy to see her success in these prominent roles, the Oscar nod, and the recognition that goes along with it.
The film did very well at the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, with Campion snatching Best Director at both and the film taking home Best Picture and Best Picture – Drama respectively. Obviously, Campion’s vision for this film and her adapted screenplay factor in very heavily to the bigger picture. I haven’t read the book but the screenplay captures the elements of the mythic West that make the genre so appealing and so malleable while also venturing into some of the darker character corners to examine the effects of trauma and the cost of keeping secrets. Her script embodies both of those tonal avenues very well and Best Adapted Screenplay consideration lines up.
I can understand why the film has garnered such high praise at this juncture. It takes a genre that has typically been very masculine in its portrayal and uses that to tell a specific character story. My first reaction was something along the lines of, “Good, but not Best Picture”. The more time I have had to sit with it, the more it has grown on me and it’s abundantly clear that it’s a strong piece of filmmaking across the board. It is one of two Netflix films near the top of the heap andThe Power of the Dog does deserve to be in the Best Picture conversation, I just don’t know if it would be my choice.
Recommendation: See it for its striking visual storytelling, its excellent performances, and its eagerness to defy genre norms.
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