I’ll be honest and admit there are some people who just can’t be doing with this film: too slow, too Arty, nothing really happens. I’m afraid the Successity Blog can’t agree with that. Jane Campion has created a masterpiece which is a keen analysis of malign masculinity. On top of that, she has coaxed a magnificent and natural performance from Benedict Cumberbatch who most people would have assumed was not the most natural actor of cowboy roles.
Cumberbatch’s portrayal of a rancher losing his brother and best friend to marriage while he stays stuck in his macho trope surrounded by younger macho ranching types is almost flawless, although he too quickly absorbs his brother’s wife’s effete son under his skin when he decides to make a cowboy of him. Equally, Cumberbatch’s brother disappears from sight for most of the second half of the film which is a problem in terms of character arcs. It would have been nice to see the development of an enduring ongoing foil between the two brothers especially when his brother’s wife succumbs to the bottle due to Cumberbatch's relentless taunting.
The late-on sexual innuendo between Cumberbatch and the son is an unexpected twist, but strangely believable. The overt extreme masculinity of the ranchers (when they are, as they are, on the whole deprived of female company) on show is a pressure in the cooker which perhaps only such an implied valve can assuage.
THE POWER OF THE DOG deserves its Oscar Nominations, for its deep symbolism if for nothing else. In Westerns terms it arguably vies with THE SEARCHERS in its symbolic intent. The fact that the money is currently mostly on CODA to lift the Best Picture statuette is a testament to the originality and risk of the casting of that movie, but THE POWER OF THE DOG is equally deserving and it’s a pity that both can’t win.
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