Film No. 90 (2021) November 11th. 11.00 PM Cinema 7. LUNA, Leederville.
"It's just a man. Only another man"(Rose responds to son Pete's query about what ails her).
Jane Campion's THE POWER OF THE DOG is a wonderful film depicting Montana cowboy country in the 1920's, where loneliness was as much an epidemic as it is for those living urban lives amongst millions of people. I say wonderful in the full knowledge that not all film goers are going to find affecting, introspective films to their liking, no matter how well they are made.
Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) and brother George (Jesse Plemons) are wealthy cattle ranchers on the rich plains of Montana. They are forced to work together. The family tradition locks them into a world they wouldn't necessarily have chosen. To the plains they are born. Enter Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon, a widowed inn owner. Her son Pete, a sensitive, intelligent, gangly young man becomes a part of the Burbank world when George marries Rose, more to alleviate each others loneliness than for love.
Told in chapters, Campion weaves her magic as a form of cinematic hypnosis. Scene after scene gradually builds on the complications we need to understand about each of the four leads. Nothing is predictable. We are always on alert for a scene we have pre-empted in our own minds, but it never unfolds that way. It's what makes this film such a revelation. Cumberbatch and Dunst are hardly in a scene together but the steam that hisses from every moment they exchange a glance or word heightens an uncomfortable edginess.
However the key relationship here is the one Phil builds with Peter. Peter seems such a vulnerable young man in the company of Phil. But is Pete far more in touch with who he really is? Most of all, he is not tied to a future like Phil is. Phil sees something of himself in Pete. Does he fight it or does he nurture it? And what is it about the title of this powerful film? Will it matter if you aren't a dog lover?
Campion has returned to her PIANO roots here. I think THE POWER OF THE DOG is better but I was less mature as a cinema lover 28 years ago. I can now appreciate JC's insight into the frailties of the human spirit via THE POWER OF THE DOG better. And the biggest twist of all? Well that comes when you find out the filming location. Where else would Campion have filmed THE POWER OF THE DOG?11GUMS.
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