Movie review: The Power Of The Dog
THE POWER OF THE DOG (R21)
Expect this Western period drama, currently showing on Netflix, to exert its power come awards season.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jane Campion have enjoyed a head start, picking up best actor, best supporting actor and best director prizes respectively at the recent New York Film Critics Circle.
In 1925 Montana, brutally beguiling rancher Phil Burbank (Cumberbatch) wages a war of intimidation on his brother's (Jesse Plemons) new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and her teen son (Smit-McPhee).
Phil's cruel taunting drives her to the bottle, but he goes from mocking her effete, strange-looking boy to suddenly taking him under his wing.
The dread is pervasive from start to finish, but you cannot help but be enthralled by the psychological tango between the Oscar-bound pair of Cumberbatch and Smit-McPhee.
Just when you think things will take a detour to Brokeback Mountain territory, The Power Of The Dog - Campion's first film in 12 years - turns into a nuanced exploration of toxic performative masculinity and the repercussions of repressed sexual desire that will quite literally eat you alive. - JEANMARIE TAN
score : 3.5
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