The Power of the Dog (2021)
3.5/4
As a film lover, my favourite time of year is Oscar season. One of the greatest films out this season is Jane Campion’s faithful adaptation of Thomas Savage’s powerful novel The Power of the Dog. I’m happy to report that not only did I have a blast watching this film, but I dare predict that it’s going to get a lot of love from the academy come Oscar Sunday.
The main thing that is really well-executed here is Campion’s gem of a script and the themes that are well-woven into it. Both the novel and the film deal with deep themes of masculinity, isolation, and family. Campion really does a superb job in cohesively conveying these timely subjects into her movie. Her direction of the film is also outstanding, and worth notice because she does just as good of a job with directing her actors and her crew as she does with covering the film’s source material.
Another powerful thing about this movie is its performances. Benedict Cumberbatch is as good as ever as the flawed farm rancher Phil Burbank. This is the hardest role in the film because Cumberbatch had to make a guy that verbally abuses nearly everyone that meets him seem human. Cumberbatch really does it very well throughout the runtime of the film.
The performances of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jesse Plemons, and Kirsten Dunst all hit the right notes as well, with Smit-McPhee being my favourite choice to win this year’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his amazing performance as Peter Golden. He really knocked it out of the park and is the only performance in the film that truly matches Cumberbatch’s.
Two other things that make this movie a great Oscar contender are Jonny Greenwood’s classical musical score and Ari Wegner’s sweeping cinematography.
Greenwood’s score suits the themes of the film and the movie’s western atmosphere well. Wegner’s cinematography gives us beautiful shots of the old American wild west, which helps the viewer immerse themselves into the world of the film; it also expertly showcases the actors’ fine performances.
My main criticism with this movie is that the pace, especially during the first act, is really slow. I don’t know if it was a stylistic choice by Campion or if it’s just a case of having to respect the source material, but it takes a little bit too long to get going.
Despite this, Campion manages to make a compelling and faithful film adaption that’s filled with great performances, stunning cinematography, and a great immersive score, which makes this movie worthy of all the praise and awards it’s earning.