TIFF 2021 film review: 'The Power of the Dog'
For a genre overstuffed with revenge or the brutality of life on the frontier, the Western 'The Power of the Dog' (screening during the 46th Toronto International Film Festival) is a coiled relationship drama set against the stark Montana prairie.
In short: Montana cattle rancher Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an overbearing force on his ranch hands - when his kindly younger brother George (Jesse Plemons) brings his unassuming new wife Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and her bookish son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) to live on the Burbank ranch home.
The strongest films require the least amount of plot-driven momentum - drama derived from simply putting combinations of characters together in the same room and letting their character dynamics power each scene is the strongest storytelling. This film's first order of business is clearly to establish that Phil is a dick through and through. Once it's obvious that he's all too comfortable in mocking anyone and everyone around him, it's plainly clear what will happen when the hyper masculine bully Phil meets meets the meek Rose and her flower-crafting son Peter. Phil is a man with a secret, little regard for his own brother and outright hostility toward Rose and her son. 'Power of the Dog' takes these simple ingredients and crafts a riveting, taut character-centric drama.
It seems Phil has ruled over the ranch with impunity and with virtually no push back for years, with his crew of ranch hands dutifully obeying him and George hesitant to voice any objection. Phil is all too willing to remind George (who Phil refers to as 'Fatso') all that he's done for his younger brother - and he's intent on keeping everyone around him under his thumb. George practically stammers until he can gather the nerve just to ask Phil to bathe before having a polite meal with family - and Phil's petulant response isn't too surprising. 'Power of the Dog' automatically becomes charged anytime any other character is thrown into the scene with Phil, a man whose ease with violence and anger ratchets up the tension.
Cumberbatch revels as the volatile rancher - a man whose brutish and cavalier machismo belies layers of self denial. Phil isn't just some stupid and brutal rancher, the film hints that he's actually a Harvard educated scholar - something that's almost impossible to discern from his posturing as seemingly the archetypal cowboy. And still beneath even this seeming contradiction of the Ivy League cattle rancher is yet another layer of repression - hinted at by Phil's reverence for his ranching mentor Bronco Henry (who died decades earlier). Cumberbatch balances all these conflicting facets - that of cruel rancher, charismatic cowboy and a man who takes out his intense self loathing on everyone around him.
Because this film is so character-driven, it's sometimes difficult to tell exactly where the story is headed ... and even this works in this Western's favor. The very genre has primed audiences with certain expectations: specifically that life in the West was wrought with danger. Just trust that 'Power of the Dog' sets all its pieces in the first act, allows the pressure and stress affect and twist the characters during the second act - all culminating in a third act where everything finally comes together.
Final verdict: Writer-director Jane Campion has crafted a tale of externalized self-hatred that somehow blends an ambiguous narrative flow with precise menacing tension, which simmers to an unexpected boiling point.
Score: 4/5
'The Power of the Dog' screens during TIFF 2021 and premieres on Netflix on Dec. 1. This drama is rated R for brief sexual content/full nudity and has a running time of 125 minutes.
