The Power of the Dog Parent Guide

Although brothers Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Burbank (Jesse Plemons) own a successful ranch in the Montana prairie, things are not well between them. Phil is a rough and dirty rancher, a man who values working with his hands and considers bathing effeminate. George, on the other hand, is perfectly content to let the ranch hands manage the cattle, and focuses more on the business of running a large agricultural operation. Those differences have caused no small amount of tension between the two, but nothing drives a wedge between them more than George’s decision to marry local widow Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst). Phil is convinced she’s just another gold-digger, using George’s wealth to put her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) through medical school. The pressure isn’t just on George, though, and Phil’s constant hostility towards her and her son drives Rose to drink, further destabilizing the family. But Phil has his own secrets, and as things fall apart, so does Phil’s ability to keep everybody out of his business.

As you might have guessed, this is not an action-packed neo-Western. It’s a slow, subtle, interpersonal drama, and the most action you’re going to see is watching cows get castrated. (If you’re lucky enough not to have seen it before, I’ll warn you, it’s not a pretty sight.) On the other hand, the cast is phenomenal. Benedict Cumberbatch, in particular, excels in his role as the disruptive Phil, bringing a nail-biting tension to every scene he’s in. Not since Deliverance has banjo music made me so nervous.

The film sees southern New Zealand filling in for the Montana setting, but if New Zealand can stand in for Middle Earth, it can handle Montana just fine. Frankly, as someone who’s spent a fair bit of time in Montana, I would have assumed they shot on location. In a film like this, the location is almost a character in its own right, and the deliberate focus on the hills around the Burbank ranch emphasizes the setting’s significance, both to the story and the characters.

On basis of the slow pacing and personal subject matter alone, The Power of the Dog is not a great film for younger audiences. Further cementing this as an adult movie are the scenes of male nudity and sexuality, which are unlikely to win the film over with some adult audiences either. On the other hand, there’s hardly any profanity, which is unusual, particularly for an “R” rated film. But if unsettling family drama is your thing, I don’t think a little bit of nudity is going to curb your enjoyment of this dark little western.