The Power of the Dog (2021)

Confounding yet beautiful, this story of wealthy Montana ranchers in the 1920s was hard for us to follow but so visually spectacular that we stayed with it. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons are brothers Phil and George, with Phil as grating and macho as George is kind and generous. Kirsten Dunst's (Plemons' real life fiancée and mother of their two children) Rose and Kodi Smit-McPhee's Gordon are multi-layered characters who keep us surprised. In cameos we see Thomasin McKenzie as a housemaid (I think) and Frances Conroy as the matriarch. The acting is all good.

Acclaimed New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion directs and based her script on the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage. I guess my problem is with the pacing.

Jonny Greenwood's evocative soundtrack, which can be streamed on Apple Music, and Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner's sweeping landscapes kept us in our seats.

Cumberbatch was last blogged for 1917, Plemons for I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Dunst for The Beguiled, McKenzie for Jojo Rabbit, Conroy for Joker and No Pay, Nudity, Campion for Top of the Lake, and Greenwood for Spencer. This is not the first, er, rodeo for Smit-McPhee and Wegner. The latter has nominations and wins for her work on this and other projects.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are howling with delight, averaging 95%, while its audiences' tails are stilled with a mere 61. Check out my running list of nominations and awards to how this one is doing so far (ten Critics Choice nominations as of this writing).

Jack and I streamed it on Netflix December 10.