Directed by: Jane Campion
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee
The Power of the Dog is a beautifully shot movie, with an interesting setting, a brilliant score, and a wonderful cast who are all giving stellar performances, yet I can’t help but feel like this movie didn’t quite live up to its full potential.
Set in 1920s Montana, The Power of the Dog follows the Burbank brothers, Phil (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (played by Jesse Plemons). The two brothers run a ranch together. Phil is more charismatic and assertive, dawning the traditional cowboy hat, chaps, spurs, and layer of dirt making him the more overtly masculine of the two, while his brother George is much more introverted and affable. George eventually meets and marries Rose Gordon (played by Kirsten Dunst), a widow who runs the local diner and inn. Rose and her peculiar teenage son, Peter (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee) move into the Burbank home and Phil proceeds to slowly torment Rose until she is forced to drink. Rose becomes weary of the bond that forms between Phil and her son Peter causing her to spiral further into despair.
There is a lot to talk about with this movie but let’s start with the performances. Everyone has their A-game going in this film and don’t be surprised if several of these actors receive some love come Oscar season. Jesse Plemons continues to add to his impressive resume with another introspective and nuanced role. In lesser hands, his character George could have been a nothing role but Plemons gives him a tenderness that draws you in. Plemons has great chemistry with Dunst, which makes perfect sense considering they’re a couple in real life. I think the Rose and George relationship is one of the more interesting parts of the movie that I wish we saw more of. The two are obviously not deeply in love with each other but they find a kind of stability and strength in each other, it’s more a relationship of practicality than passion.
Kristen Dunst is giving one of her best performances in years. She has had one of the most bizarre careers in recent memory. It’s almost hard to believe that she starred as Mary Jane in massively successful Raimi Spiderman movies, her acting sensibilities are just so much better suited to quiet indie movies. As Rose she starts off timid and quiet and starts slowly unravelling as her character is tormented by her brother-in-law Phil. There are moments especially towards the end of the movie where Dunst’s performance feels a bit one note but the script is to blame for that. Rose’s character is largely underwritten and eventually devolves into a drunken blubbering mess. It’s worth mentioning the makeup and hair department here because they really do a great job at making Dunst look like she is incredibly drunk. Dunst does a good job at presenting Rose’s mania and extreme sadness but ultimately the character doesn’t have enough development to serve the great performance that Dunst is giving. While I think she is still going to get nominated for an Oscar, there was so much more that could have and should have been done with that character.
While all of the performances are great, this is Benedict Cumberbach’s movie, there’s no debating that. I’m about to spoil a major aspect of Cumberbach’s character here so if you don’t want to know, skip ahead or go watch the movie and come back to read the rest. Okay, so Cumberbatch plays Phil, a surly rancher who, in his youth, had a romantic relationship with his mentor Bronco Henry. Whenever Phil talks about Bronco Henry he talks about him with a near religious zeal. Phil’s sexual orientation is obviously a point of insecurity for him, which is understandable considering the time and place where this movie is set. Outwardly, Phil presents himself as the ultimate man’s man. He does hard manual labour, he rides horses, and he commands the respect of all his employees on the ranch. Yet he is obviously repressed. Cumberbacth does a great job depicting the menace of the character while also alluding to his internal struggle. There are moments where Cumberbatch’s performance creeps into overacting territory but the movie has a kind of over-the-top melodramatic feel so it doesn’t seem out of place.
The third act of the movie revolves around Phil’s relationship with Kodi Smit-McPhee’s character Peter. Smit-McPhee puts in a strong performance and really holds his own with the more seasoned actors in the ensemble. It is here in the third act where the movie shifts slightly into more of a psychological drama as these two characters circle each other. I think Cumberbacth and Smit-McPhee have great chemistry but the resolution of their relationship ultimately feels underwhelming and not satisfying. This movie is trying to say something about the dangers of toxic/extreme masculinity and sexual repression but its all done very subtly, almost too subtly. The film does play with the gay-cowboy troupe made famous in movies like Brokeback Mountain but I just don’t really see the point in retreding this subject matter. If you are going to make a period piece about 1920s Montana centered around a gay rancher have something more substantial to say. Maybe if this movie had come out 15 years ago it might have seemed transgressive but sexual politics in the 2020s is a far more complicated subject and deserves a more comprehensive approach.
There is one specific scene that I would like to point out that was a bit confusing for me. Towards the end of the movie, a native American man and his son come to the ranch looking to buy some cow hides. Phil refuses to sell the hides and would rather burn them than give them to the natives. Rose, in the midst of one of her drunken episodes, gives away the hides and the man gives her a pair of leather gloves. This scene seemed completely out of place, it does have some plot significance but I feel like it was placed here to say something about the colonizer colonized relationship but I’m not sure what that is. It might also be an attempt to criticize white women who are in positions of privilege who try to alline their struggle with the struggle of people of colour but that might be a reach.
While the movie sometimes falls short to effectively explore its themes, it always looks and sounds amazing. The score is composed by Johnny Greenwood who is a frequent collaborator of Paul Thomas Anerson and this score is obviously meant to be evocative of the There Will be Blood score. The score is exceedingly successful at ratcheting up the tension and giving the film this continuous feeling of impending dread. The music is paired with thoroughly stunning visuals. New Zealand fills in for Montana here and there are some shots of the sprawling vistas that are truly breathtaking. The exterior shots of this barren mountainous region make it feel like these characters are living on the edge of the world removed from all civilization. Jane Campion’s direction adds to the tense vibe of this movie, she makes a lot of interesting choices and while the film does feel oddly similar to There Will Be Blood she has a much more subtle directorial style than PTA, which works to make this movie feel more grounded and realistic.
Overall, The Power of the Dog is a really solid and enjoyable movie. The performances are probably some of the best that we are going to see all year and the atmosphere produced by the visuals and the music are fascinating. Given all of the positives going for it, it makes it all the more disappointing that the story doesn’t really make full use of all these great components and ultimately falls a bit flat. With a stronger story and slightly better script, I truly believe that this movie could have been a masterpiece but as it sits it is just a really well made period piece with some great performances and hey that’s still pretty damn good.
