Among the many best film selections in 2021, New Zealand female director Jane Campion's "Canine Power" topped the list, and Campion herself won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival. These must be sufficient reasons to watch "The Power of the Dog".
Many years ago, I watched Campion's "Piano Lesson" and felt that she was a very scary director. From the perspective of describing delicate emotions and psychological changes, Campion was almost invincible among human directors. No director would want to take the risk of putting a novel with a lot of psychological descriptions like "The Power of the Dog" on the screen, because the effect brought by the text is difficult to present on camera, but Campion has the ability to visualize the psychological changes of the characters. She relies on meticulous plot contradictions, psychological construction caused by character conflicts, and precise performance guidance to actors to complete realistic psychological sketches, making the film extremely rich.
If you look at "The Power of Dogs" as a psychological horror film, it is not surprising at all. The psychological wrestling in the film is ten thousand times crueler than the living conditions and conflicts of human beings that appear on the surface, which is greatly enriched. film level.
"Canine Power" has a luxurious lineup, with Kirsten Dunst, who won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for "Melancholia", Kodi Smit McPhee, who was a child star, "Breaking Bad" Jesse Plemons in "The Teacher" are all good actors. The most striking thing about Campion's casting ability is the use of Benedict Cumberbatch, who has shown the pinnacle of strength in shaping the extremely complex role of Mayfair, just like we did before. What he said—he used the performance to sketch his heart, multiplying the texture of the character, and making the audience experience incomparable. Benedict Cumberbatch will definitely be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for the role of Mayfair.
In the final analysis, "The Power of the Dog" is a psychological game at the inner level. One of the reasons why it is extremely cruel is that all games are aimed at "love" and also use love as a weapon. Friends who like drama movies, especially complex inner drama drama movies, "The Power of Dogs" should not be missed.