Why Netflix’s Power of the Dog should win the 2022 Best Picture Oscar

On March 27, the 2022 Oscars will be held. Ten new films are being considered for Best Picture. Belfast, CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, Dog PowerPlease see the following: West Side Story. Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. However, any one of them could win big. In the lead-up to the Oscars, we’re making a case for why each of them might deserve to take the big prize.

WHAT’S THE MOVIE?

Dog PowerJane Campion directed the film.

WHAT’S THE STORY?

Phil Burbank, a well-educated rancherman from Montana (Benedict Cumberbatch), surrounds himself in 1925 Montana with young, sycophantic cowboys that admire him for his knowledge and skill. His quiet brother George (Jesse Plemons), marries Rose (Kirsten Dust), and Phil becomes jealous and threatened. He then takes his anger out on Rose (Kodi Smith-McPhee) and her awkward, skinny son Peter. As Rose (Jesse Plemons) marries Rose (Kirsten Dunst), Phil is threatened and jealous and takes out his anger on Rose and her awkward son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee).

Photo by Kirsty Griff/Netflix

WHAT’S THE CRED?

Campion became the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar two times in history. (She was previously nominated for 1993’s The PianoSteven Spielberg won the Best Original Screenplay Award for ‘Best Screenplay.’ Schindler’s List.) Campion spent most of her life focusing on power relations between men and women. She made sharp and ambitious films, some with blistering attention, such as Take a look at the Cut, Portrait of a LadyPlease see the following: Holy Smoke. Her primary cast here is an all-star team of actors celebrated for their nuanced performances — even when they’re playing against type, as Cumberbatch is here.

WHY IS IT A WINNER?

Dog Power is a deceptively simple film — it’s easy to see it as a cut-and-dried drama about a dude who doesn’t like his brother’s new wife and gets snotty about it. The film is complex and has many layers. It’s worth taking the time to think through it. The way Phil carefully calculates his bullying to cover up his own insecurities, the way he performs his “I’m a smelly barbarian and I like it” masculinity to put himself beyond question in the eyes of other men, and the way he recoils from Peter’s softness and vulnerability are all key to understanding the film’s deeper nuances around Phil’s sexuality and the fears that drive him.

And so is the way Peter’s confidence in his education threatens Phil, a Phi Beta Kappa Yale classics graduate who smothers his own education in an attempt to fit in among the Montana cowboy crowd. So is the way Peter’s education ultimately comes into play against Phil. This film has a great acting style, and stunning cinematography. But the movie’s standout feature is the richness and authenticity of its relationships, and the many things that the characters hide or pretend to be.

WHAT’S THE CATCH?

This nuance can be difficult to see, especially for those who are watching the movie half-heartedly and wait for something to happen. To fully understand it, you need to engage and put in the effort. Dog Power, and it’s harder to give a long, slow movie that kind of during-and-afterward engagement when it’s mixed in with a thousand other films and series in Netflix’s constant firehose of content.

One great thing that no one should miss

Netflix Photo

Dunst plays a relatively minor and ineffectual part in the narrative after her first few big scenes, but there’s a standout moment as she and George head to the ranch for the first time, after their marriage. Taking the gently baffled George off the road, she pulls out teacups so they can have a little tea party en route — a sweet but almost ridiculously effete moment that marks how out of place she’s going to be on Phil’s ranch. And yet it’s obvious how much she’s trying to face her own fears about heading to a new place, and how touched George is by her little game. It’s a quiet scene, but an emotional one that’s heavy with portent and unspoken need.

WHERE DON’T I BE ABLE TO WATCH IT

Dog PowerIt is now available for streaming on Netflix. You can also stream the nominees on Netflix.

Previously: Why? Don’t Look Updeserves the Best Picture
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