The Power of the Dog

Year:  2021

Director:  Jane Campion

Screenplay:  Jane Campion, based on the book The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

Starring:  Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Genevieve Lemon, Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy

Running Time:  126 minutes

Genre: Western

1920s Montana:  George Burbank (Plemons) and his brother Phil (Cumberbatch) co-own a successful cattle ranch.  During a cattle drive the brothers meet widow and inn owner Rose (Dunst).  George immediately falls for her, but the volatile, bullying Phil immediately dislikes her, believing that she is just after their money.  Phil particularly dislikes Rose's teenage son, Peter (Smit-McPhee), who he sees as soft and weak.  George and Rose quickly get married and she moves into the ranch while Peter is away studying medicine.  When Peter returns for the holidays he finds that Rose is descending into alcoholism, and soon his and Phil's mutual dislike changes not a much more complex relationship.

Based on a 1967 novel by Thomas Savage, The Power of the Dog is a complex, bleak, psychological drama in a Western setting.  Filmed in director Jane Campion's native New Zealand, the film features beautiful landscapes and almost impressionistic imagery of seas of dusty cattle.  In fact it is kind of a pity that, since it is a Netflix film, it will mostly only be available to watch on television, because it really cries out for a big cinema screen.  Benedict Cumberbatch is impressive as the verbally abusive Phil, who constantly gives the impression that he is just about to burst into violence.  Kirsten Dunst gives a great performance as the troubled, struggling Rose, with Jesse Plemons as the husband who deeply cares about her but doesn't know how to help her, and really can't unless they move off the ranch and away from Phil.  Kodi Smit-McPhee is very good as Peter, Rose's intelligent, artistic, sensitive son, who can't fit in with the macho world of the ranch, and is constantly taunted by all the cowboys and ranch hands.  Thomasin McKenzie (from JoJo Rabbit (2019) and Last Night in Soho (2021)) has a small role as the ranch's cheery maid, Lola.  The film depicts a dark, alienating world, where danger is a constant fact of life, and there is always threat in the air.  Phil belongs fully to that world, but Rose and Peter belong to towns and cities, they are part of a more urbane world, and George has a foot in both worlds.  He is a rancher and something of a cowboy, but he is also kindly, gentle and reasonable, and he wants to become a "gentleman rancher" and the state governor, along with his and Phil's wealthy parents.  There is a strong, intelligent script by Jane Campion who directs beautifully, with memorable imagery and very strong performances.  This is a great film.

  

Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons in The Power of the Dog

Last Night in Soho

 Year of Release:  2021

Director:  Edgar Wright

Screenplay:  Edgar Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, from a story by Edgar Wright

Starring:  Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Michael Ajao, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg

Running Time:  117 minutes

Genre:  Horror

Teenager Eloise Turner (McKenzie) moves from rural Cornwall to the bright lights of London to study fashion design.  Fascinated by the music and the style of the Swinging Sixties, Eloise moves to a bedsit in the Soho area of the city, and finds herself haunted by visions of Sandie (Taylor-Joy) an aspiring singer in the 1960s.  At first Eloise is delighted by these journeys back in time, and uses her experiences to fuel her creativity.  However, as Sandie's story becomes increasingly dark, Eloise's dreams quickly turn into horrific nightmares, which begin to bleed into her waking life.

Probably many people have visions of some fantasy "Golden Age" when everything was cool, wonderful and glamorous, even if it was a time long before they were born.  For modern day teenager Eloise it's the 1960s, but she soon comes to discover that despite the glamour, cool clothes and fantastic music, there is darkness and cruelty.  She comes to London to pursue her dreams of fashion design but almost as soon as she steps off the train, she has a disturbing experience with a creepy taxi driver, and is bullied by the fellow students in her halls of residence, causing her to move into a bedsit.  One of the hallmarks of Edgar Wright films is the visual inventiveness, and this is on full display here, particularly the sequence where Eloise has her first dream which is throughly intoxicating, as Sandie is revealed as her mirror images, and we see Anya Taylor-Joy, with Thomasin McKenzie as her reflection, and vice versa.  Thomasin McKenzie is heartbreaking as the romantic, tormented Eloise, haunted by the past in more ways than one, Anya Taylor-Joy is striking as Sandie, at first seeming the personification of sixties glamour, but who increasingly falls apart.  Former Doctor Who Matt Smith plays handsome, charismatic but dangerous Jack, and Smith is very effective in a throughly villainous role.  Michael Ajao plays Eloise's classmate John, pretty much the only sympathetic male character in the film, and he does invest what could be a very bland part with some real emotion.  There are slo appearances by several Sixties icons: Terence Stamp, Rita Tushingham and, in her final performance, Diana Rigg.  As with all of Edgar Wright's films, music is crucial here, with the stream of sixties classics almost another character.  The film does fall apart somewhat in the final third when it moves into more gruesome giallo horror territory, and at the end there are a few too many coincidences and shocking reveals, but for the most part it works very well, and the film is constantly intriguing, entertaining and sometimes genuinely shocking.  It's about the perils of nostalgia and "Golden Age" thinking, the dark side of glamour and most of all how men prey on women, which is the real horror in the film.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin Mackenzie in Last Night in Soho

Jojo Rabbit

Year of Release:  2019

Director:  Taika Waititi

Screenplay:  Taika Waititi, based on the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens

Starring:  Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Wilson, Sam Rockwell, Alfie Allen, Stephen Merchant

Running Time:  108 minutes

Genre:  Comedy-drama, war

Nazi Germany:  Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Davis) is an innocent ten year old boy who is nevertheless heavily indoctrinated with Nazi ideology, and is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth.  His best friend is an imaginary Adolf Hitler (Waititi).  Jojo discovers that his mother, Rosie (Johansson), is hiding a young Jewish girl, Elsa (McKenzie).  Jojo is scared to turn her in, and he and Elsa begin a tentative friendship.  

In the wrong hands this film could be in hugely bad taste, however it is by turns hilariously funny and absolutely heartbreaking.  The film is anchored by young actors Roman Griffin Davis and Thomasin McKenzie  who move from mutual fear and loathing to a kind of genuine friendship.  To Jojo, fascism is basically adventure, friendship and acceptance.  He has swallowed the lies hook, line and sinker, but he remains at his core, an essentially good hearted little boy, who just believes what he's been told.  When he meets Elsa he begins to slowly realise that Jewish people are not the demonic, supernatural monsters that he has been told they are.  Thomasin McKenzie is intensely moving as Elsa, whose safety depends on trusting people who she has every reason  not to.  She is a survivor, in constant danger, but she is also a normal teenage girl.  The familiar faces in supporting roles are all very good, with writer-director Taika Waititi as an idiotic imaginary Hitler, who moves from childlike best friend, to an increasingly threatening presence, as Jojo becomes increasingly disillusioned with Nazism.  Scarlett Johansson is hugely impressive as Rosie, Jojo's mother, torn between her duty to fight the evil that she sees around her, and her duty to care for her child.  The film has a child's eye view of it's events, moving from childlike adventure and flights of imagination to fear and danger.  The use of German versions of anachronistic songs by The Beatles and David Bowie adds an additional fantasy element.  The subject matter of the film places it in very difficult territory, but it navigates it with barely a misstep.  It is among the best and most moving films of the past few years.

Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit