The Power of the Dog

“What kind of man would I be if I did not help my mother? If I did not save her?” Jane Campion's latest film certainly can't be denied its visible ambition and its push for film awards. The Power of the Dog has a solid cast in its arsenal and an engaging theme that spans different genres and corners as the plot unfolds. In addition, it features some beautiful locations of plains somewhere in Montana. However, it is quite dragged down by the sometimes too gradual build up of the plot. Campion works skilfully with hints and dead ends in the plot, which is why I found the denouement surprising but not shocking. The way Campion builds tension and relationships between the characters left me feeling uneasy – the interactions of Phil and Peter or Phil and Rose intrigued me, while Phil and George and George and Rose passed me by. Last but not least, I have to criticize the soundtrack, which distracted me throughout the film rather than enhancing the atmosphere. Academically cool, yet cleverly hinted at and genre-defying, it's a contender for several Oscars. (01/11/2022)

Humble, beautifully filmed, full of dramatic scenery and subliminal tension, which is, however, quite forcefully injected by Johnny Greenwood's sometimes shallow underscore. Campion's script is unfocused and the plot, divided into fragments, doesn't create coherent dramatic tension, and in the end it kind of depends on the power of chance, and I therefore struggled with the point rather than lived it. The strongest motif is not the son's love for his mother or the misalignment of the two reclusive characters, but rather the relationship between the two brothers, which quietly fades from the plot after about half an hour, much like Jesse Plemons outplaying the rest of the cast. The result is a diet broth of There Will Be Blood and In Fabric. An elegant piece that barks but doesn't bite. (12/08/2021)

Kodi Smit-Mcphee is going to have a hard time from the LGBT community. The Power of the Dog is a really weird family drama set in Montana in 1925, where it seems a key scene is missing, but wait! That’s on purpose. The characters suddenly change their demeanor thanks to something that happens off-camera. Campion simply hints at it and leaves the viewer to do the thinking. So the picture plays through without any sort of catharsis. It all stands on the shoulders of an excellent Cumberbatch who makes the very most of playing the rancher, really enjoying it. (10/28/2021)

Burbank, played by Benedict Cumberbatch in a devilishly nasty yet hypnotically appealing performance, is a character that hasn't appeared in a film since perhaps 2007, when There Will Be Blood and the oil-soaked Daniel Plainview, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, burst into cinemas. The Power of the Dog is a fascinatingly odd film, where you suspect every minute that something terrible is going to happen, and it usually does. Those who want a classic western, or even a modern western, go elsewhere. Those who want a dense, ruthless, ugly and dusty showcase of madness should wait for the right mood and put on Power of the Dog. (12/05/2021)

It's one thing to make a movie that's boring as hell whose every second is absolutely mind-numbing and unbearable. But when it’s combined with a totally off-putting soundtrack, a pathetic artsy narrative style, a seemingly profound story, and a terribly shocking punchline, then it becomes true "art". It can win all the film awards in the world, but from my perspective, none of them are going to polish up this turd. (03/07/2022)