• Jane Campion’s return to the archives (twelve years since 2009’s Bright Star) centers on two brothers (Phil and George Burbank played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons) and a mother and son (Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Peter Gordon). The fifth and sixth characters in the film are the breathtaking vistas of New Zealand (as a stand in for early twentieth century Montana) and Jonny Greenwood’s grand score (what a year for Greenwood with Spencer arriving just a few weeks earlier).
  • The two brothers are two sides of a coin. Cumberbatch’s Phil is absolutely barbarous. This is a rich character (torturing himself along with the others)- even when he does not speak, his savagery fills the room and there is a palpable uncomfortable tension in every scene that he is in. Phil worships at the memory of Bronco Henry, represses his sexuality, and his complexities include his secret haven tucked away in the brush. Phil’s feelings towards Peter evolve as the story progresses as well. This may be Cumberbatch’s best work and The Power of the Dog serves as a reminder that Cumberbatch’s skill as a vocal actor- maybe only Tom Hardy can match him among current actors. Plemons’ quiet “Fatso” (as called by Phil) loves Rose (Campion and Greenwood help Dunst capture a heartbreaking fragility), but he does not have the power to save Rose (Phil’s prime target). This leaves Peter as the unlikely guardian of his mother.
  • A stupendous shot of (praise again due to Campion and cinematographer Ari Wegner) of blood on the prairie wheat.
  • Campion tells the story in chapters with an opening and closing voice over from Peter: “when my father passed, I wanted nothing more than my mother’s happiness”
  • Recommend/ Highly Recommend film after one viewing