Benedict Cumberbatch leads the latest award-winning film from New Zealand filmmaking great Jane Campion, and it’s coming to screens both big and small.
Winning Best Director at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog looks like a solid contender for the upcoming awards season. This is the first film from the Oscar-winning filmmaker since 2009’s Bright Star, and what a return it’s looking to be.
An adaptation of Thomas Savage’s novel, the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank, a rancher in 1925 Montana who takes glee in ruthlessly mocking widowed proprietress Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and her impressionable son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). In contrast, Phil’s brother George (Jesse Plemons) comforts Rose then returns to marry her. This hazardous dynamic takes an even more complicated turn when Phil suddenly takes Peter under his wing.
The film has been lapping up acclaim during its film festival run. “An exquisitely crafted film,” states The Hollywood Reporter. “Cinematic poetry,” The Playlist praised. “The Power of the Dog sticks its teeth into you so fast and furtively that you may not feel the sting on your skin until after the credits roll,” wrote IndieWire‘s David Ehrlich. “The delayed bite of the film’s ending doesn’t stop it from leaving behind a well-earned scar.”
Seems fitting, then, that The Power of the Dog would go on to open this year’s Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival. The film is currently playing in select NZ cinemas and will stream on Netflix from December 1.
