THE POWER OF THE DOG (2021) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Jane Campion
Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons,
Kodi Smit-McPhee, Genevieve Lemon, Alice Englert,
Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy, Alison Bruce
"There Will Be Blood" meets "Brokeback Mountain" in a western set in Montana but shot in New Zealand with a British actor playing an American cowboy in the lead. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Phil Burbank, a mean, foul-smelling sociopath who abuses everybody around him, but especially his brother George (Jesse Plemons), George's wife Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and Rose's effete son Pete (Kodi Smit-McPhee). You can tell from the start there's something fucked-up about Phil. How fucked-up and why is something that becomes more apparent through the course of the film. It's ferociously acted by Cumberbatch, who shows you not just Phil's seething rage and cruelty, but the fear that's concealed somewhere behind his eyes. Phil is a swaggering stereotype, tougher than tough, and the key to the story is his relationship with Pete, who's his stereotypical opposite. It starts with Phil the macho bully toying with Pete, who seems defenseless. By the end, the balance has shifted. In a game like this, you can't always tell who's got the upper hand, and it's not necessarily who you think. The ending's perverse.
