Director: Jane Campion
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch , Kirsten Dunst , Jesse Plemons , Kodi Smit-McPhee , Max Mata , Thomasin McKenzie , Frances Conroy , Keith Carradine , Geneviève Lemon , George Mason
Plot: Severe, pale-eyed, handsome, Phil Burbank is brutally beguiling. All of Phil's romance, power and fragility is trapped in the past and in the land: He can castrate a bull calf with two swift slashes of his knife; he swims naked in the river, smearing his body with mud. He is a cowboy as raw as his hides. The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose, the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter. Phil behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, reveling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter all except his brother George, who comforts Rose then returns to marry her. As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form - he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil's cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or their plot twisting furthered into menace?
My Movie Review: The movie is a dark tale of a small town in 1920s Montana, in which author Thomas Savage examine a masculinity from the perspective of a deeply homophobic rancher!! The Power Of The Dog is tense in silence as you saddle up for a slow ride it takes you for quite violent themes as it explores toxic masculinity and the struggle for connection, portraying Phil's downfall as a result of his abusive behavior and ill closeted his inability to express his true self:) Jane Campion wrote and directed this Western set in Montana in 1925 it's based on a novel an exceptional and complex film that's fond for its uncanny beauty and subtle power, whose biggest asset is the curious interplay of contrasts of all kinds as Phil starts to teach Peter to ride and ranch, and Peter seems to return his affection. But when Peter sees his chance, he passes Phil anthrax-infected rawhide. Peter's intentions with Phil are revealed as malicious, as he poisons him to protect his mother from Phil's cruelty and toxic masculinity. Phil, who has cut his hand, works the rawhide to finish a rope for Peter then becomes infected and dies horribly!! The two standouts are the mother and son who they meet an innkeeper named Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and her odd but kind son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and soon George and Rose get married. Rose and her son move to the brothers' ranch, but none of them could expect how things would play out while it's not easy it ends with a happy image of George and Rose now finally free of Phil' still recovering from her depression, Peter smiles knowing it saves his mom:)
Critics Consensus: Brought to life by a stellar ensemble led by Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog reaffirms writer-director Jane Campion as one of her generation's finest filmmakers. Campion’s new Western shares a visual vocabulary with Brokeback Mountain, but what looks like an unlikely love story turns out to be a tale of revenge. A brutal meditation on masculinity. Cumberbatch is the catalyst and a terrifying one, but there are layers to Phil's relationship with his brother, sister-in-law, nephew, himself, and figures from the past, that Campion peels away and reveals so deliberately and subtly. The Power of the Dog is a film of uncanny beauty and subtle power, whose biggest asset is the curious interplay of contrasts of kinds: physical power vs. powers of intellect, innocence vs. corruption, honesty vs. hypocrisy, and love vs. hate. Not since Lady Macbeth (2016) has a film shifted power dynamics by exploring gender, class, and sexuality in each scene. The Power of the Dog is a thought-provoking, deep study of (toxic) masculinity surrounded by exceptional performances and truly stunning cinematography. When The Power of the Dog ends, there is an immense desire to immediately start it from the beginning to see the puzzle pieces that were laid out for the audience. To appreciate the movie in a new way, from a bird’s-eye view, knowing how it ends. Much has already been said about Jane Campion's western masterpiece, and for good reason. Benedict Cumberbatch gives a career best performance as soft speaking, intimidating rancher!
