(This review of “The Power of the Dog” was published on Sept. 2 after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.)
Told in a mode of modest grandeur, a character-driven period piece set in a remote place, “The Power of the Dog” returns director Jane Campion to feature filmmaking more than a decade after “Bright Star.” Rural Montana in 1925 (though actually shot in her native New Zealand) hosts this drama of secrets, romantic ambivalence, and macho pain, adapted from Thomas Savage’s 1968 novel.
The rugged landscape also provides Campion’s first male protagonist: Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch), a mean-spirited cowboy bursting at the seams with the weight of the person he doesn’t want to be.