AFI Fest 2021: The Power of the Dog
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It’s a wonderful feeling when you watch a film in real time and then hit the ending and get to reexamine everything you’ve witnessed over and over again. This is the delight of seeing Jane Campion’s new film The Power of the Dog, a movie that requires your undivided attention while watching it, and leaves the theater with you.
Adapted from the novel by Thomas Savage, The Power of the Dog tells the story of two brothers George and Phil, ranchers from Montana. One night they swing by an inn for dinner. This trip proves to be fateful as Phil insults Rose’s son Peter, causing George to offer her comfort. Unbeknownst to Phil, this simple connection soon blossoms into love and the two are married. Phil takes an instant dislike to her, believing she’s only in it for the money, and seems determined to make life hard for Rose. When Peter returns from college, he finds himself in the crosshairs of Phil, and soon everyone must deal with the worsening tensions, and perhaps some new feelings they’ve never explored.
The best filmmakers create movies that trust that the audience can keep up with them. Campion is one of the great living filmmakers and she not only does she gain our trust, but she rewards it. As The Power of the Dog moves along its tale, it tightens its screws and in doing so allows for new relationships and new understandings to blossom. As the writer-director, Campion creates a sense of innate dread in nearly every moment a character interacts with Phil or is in his thoughts, but she also crafts moments of tenderness, of passion, and of revelation. I love how this movie plays with the notions of masculinity, power, and strength. Phil might rule over this land but even he has to find a begrudging respect for those around him, chief among them Peter played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. These two characters are almost two sides of the same coin, a mirror the movie can hold up to the characters and the audience to dig into these nuanced topics. Both men are equally self-possessed and yet there’s something primal that both are trying to access. In these moments the movie really sings and Smit-McPhee and Cumberbatch turn in some of the finest work of their careers.
The two other key characters in this movie are played by husband and wife, Jesse Plemmons and Kirsten Dunst. Both excellent actors in their own rights, they kind of are the opposite of Kodi and Benedict. They play characters defined in part by their fear of Phil and how it causes them to act. It’s like both characters were asked to spend time in a room with a dangerous animal. While Plemmons plays his character with the the well practiced mannerisms of someone who can placate that creature, Dunst plays Rose as a woman slowly coming apart at the seams, stressing out about nearly everything. Lots of superlatives to go around, but it was quite a thrill to see these two act alongside each other.
The Power of the Dog is a movie I’m certain to be thinking about a lot in the coming days, if not for the rest of the year. Jane Campion has crafted a sterling film that everyone should see the second they get a chance.
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