the power of the dog (w&d jane campion)

 As I sat in the Renoir’s boxy downstairs Phoenix screen, having paid a small fortune, I thought to myself that, from the point of view of this blog, it is for the best that by and large in Montevideo I don’t get to see the hot new releases and that this blog is not part of that conversation. Because the issue of hype contorts everything. I went to see Power of the Dog with much anticipation, and after half an hour or so, as these lines attest, I found my mind drifting somewhat, on the verge of a kind of ‘is this all you’ve got’ disappointment, which had more to do with my expectations than the actual film. The film is beautifully realised, (that word which in the lexicon of Spanish cinema does so much good work), and in many regards impeccable, and perhaps that was part of my problem with it. It felt so highly polished, with barely a loose end flapping, that it seemed as much a finely rendered product as a distinctive work of art.

On a more discursive note, it’s interesting to place Power of the Dog within the orbit of the reimagined 21st C Western. The work of Kelly Reichardt, with Meek’s Cutoff and First Cow, comes to mind and I am sure there will be others. There is not a gun fired in Power of the Dog, or even seen. The West becomes a space where personal relationships have room to evolve, for better or for worse, in a relatively ungoverned environment, where societal pressures exist at arm’s length. Where power doesn’t function as it has been depicted in the work of Hawks et al, but in a more cerebral fashion, which Cumberbatch’s Phil, who graduated from Harvard, has sought to reject, but eventually finds himself snared by. These films are made from the perspective of the conflict the cowboys eventually lost. Modern USA is festooned with faux cowboys, who stride around cosplaying values which their prosperity has helped to defeat. Campion’s film negotiates these choppy waters with restraint, subtlety and anthrax. It’s a curious and perhaps beguiling combo, only I wish I had got to see it a year later, in the relatively hype-free environment of the city I normally inhabit.