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

Let Me In

Year: 2010
Director: Matt Reeves
Screenplay: Matt Reeves, based on the novel and screenplay Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas, Cara Buono
Running Time: 116 minutes
Genre: Horror, drama

Summary: In March, 1983, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, twelve year old Owen (Smit-McPhee) lives with his religious, alcoholic mother (Buono), who largely ignores him, on a depressing housing estate. He is also frequenty bullied at school. One night he meets a new neighbour, Abby (Moretz), a seemingly ordinary twelve year old girl, who lives with an elderly man (Jenkins) assumed to be her father. A strong friendship soon blossoms between Owen and Abby until he learns that Abby is, in fact, a vampire, and her "father" is behind a brutal series of ritualistic killings in the local area which he has done to provide her with the blood she needs.

Opinions: The 2004 novel Let the Right One In by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist has previously been adapted as a critically acclaimed and successful Swedish film directed by Tomas Alfredson, and now an English-language version has been made. It's hard not to feel cynical when a successful foreign language film is given an English-language remake, especially when it's only been a couple of years since the release of the Swedish film. In fact, Alfredson was, understandably, very angry at the news that his film was being remade on the grounds that he thought a film should only be remade if there was something wrong with the original and he didn't think that there was anything wrong ith his film, and he is perfectly correct that there is nothing wrong with the earlier film.
However, leaving that aside, Let Me In is a very good film in it's own right. For the most part it sticks very closely to the earlier film and fairly faithful to the original novel (both movie versions excise the novel's gruesome zombie sub-plot). The film has a good sense of time and place with striking visuals of the snow-bathed housing estate. Director Reeves, best known for the 2008 monster movie Cloverfield, delivers some striking scenes, in particular a sequence where the camera is in the back seat of a crashing car. He also has some of the more traditional horror movie scares happening in the background of scenes, and although there are computer generated special effects used, they are mostly fairly subtle. The movie's main strengths are in superb performances from Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz in the lead roles who make their characters if anything even more engaging and sympathetic then their Swedish counterparts.
While sticking a little bit too close to the original to really become it's own thing, this is a fine, well-made movie that deserves a wider audience than traditional horror audiences and should appeal to fans of the original as well as newcomers.


Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Grace Moretz in Let Me In