TIFF 2021: The Power of the Dog Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Based on the book by Thomas Savage, The Power of the Dog is expected to be one of the heavy hitters come awards season and has been treated as such, making stops at all the big film festivals thus far. That being said, it certainly has all the makings of being a contender though sometimes that hype could be a hinderance as it adds a level of expectation to the film for better or worse. This epic frontier character study not only looks good, boasting beautiful shots of the New Zealand countryside masquerading as 1925 Montana, but it also sounds good thanks to an excellent Jonny Greenwood score. However, the story is built on a foundation of powerful themes that the film only ever approaches on a surface level therefore fails to explore them in enough of a satisfying way in spite of some solid performances across the board.

The Power of the Dog tells the story of Phil (Cumberbatch) and George Burbank (Plemmons), a pair of wealthy ranchers in 1925 Montana. Seemingly polar opposites, Phil is a rugged and imposing “manly man” connected to the land with the skills to boot to handle himself while George is the more sensitive of the two. Over the course of their travels, the brothers meet Rose (Dunst), a widowed owner of a restaurant for whom George connects with and latter married. Her and her son Peter’s (Kodi Smit-McPhee) relationship with Phil was much different however as he was not particular fond of them as they got the brunt of his cruelty. After so many uncomfortable moments, things would eventually change as Phil took a liking to Peter, essentially attempting to mold him more in his image and more or less assuming the role of the father he never had, much to the chagrin of Ruth who was driven to alcohol as a means to cope.

The contrasting dynamics between Phil and Ruth and Phil and Peter was interesting to watch play out as George was pretty much just there as a sort of mediator between the three and working towards the betterment of the Burbank ranch. The latter dynamic was definitely the better of the two but it’s hard to not have wanted more from both. Meanwhile, the root of Phil’s problematic personality was another lane that went majorly unexplored. Nevertheless, the performances of The Power of the Dog make it all work. Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank was an absolute force whose imposing presence made for a compelling antagonist who commands attention. Though Dunst as Ruth was underwritten and Plemmons as George was kind of dull, they made the best out of what they had. Smit-McPhee as Peter held his own and was arguably the only other interesting character.

At the end of the day, The Power of the Dog may not reach the level of hype attributed to it but is still a powerful film in its own right.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.