Deliver my soul from the sword

Reaching the end of my trip up The Guardian's Top 51 Movies of 2021 

#1 : The Power Of The Dog

Jane Campion’s superb gothic western is a mysterious and menacing psychodrama about two warring brothers (Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons) on a ranch in 20s Montana.

And we've made it!  I've heard very good things about this film and obviously it got loads of nominations and awards - and at no point in time have I ever felt the slightest desire to watch it.  I'm expecting a slightly odd film with some fantastic scenery but beyond that I'm somewhat at a loss as to what I'm going to get.

Benedict and Jesse both play odd characters - hard to warm to but for very different reasons.  Benedict is Phil, the older brother and Jesse is George, the very put-upon younger brother.  They have a most peculiar relationship which is teased out over the first half of the film - you can't say it starts well, but you know it's going to get considerably worse at some point.  

Kirsten Dunst plays Rose, the outsider who George marries - it's fair to say Phil takes against her and her son Peter played by Kodi Smit-McPhee (and they're both odd characters as well) and the second half of the film focuses more on the relationship between Phil and Peter.

It is quite a tense film which I generally wouldn't go for, but because I was unsure what was going on, it never got too much for me - I suspected it was going to go horribly wrong, but I was never certain.  And then, with ten minutes to go, when you think they're going to run out of time for something to happen - something very unexpected happens.  And that's all I think I'm going to say - it does explain some of what came before and make you re-evaluate other bits, but probably not as much as it thinks it does.

All the main characters are well acted - as you'd suspect.  I'm going to call out Kodi first - it's a fine performance from the lad, both physically (boy, is he thin!) and psychologically (boy, is he weird!).  Benedict is the other character who's given proper acting to do and, as you might expect, he very much acts.  Kirsten and Jesse are given their opportunities but have less of a character arc (and Jesse in particular almost disappears from the second half of the film).  As an aside, I don't think I knew that Jesse is Mr Dunst - they met on Fargo (season 2 is enjoyable nonsense) and things just took off from there.

It's an interesting story and it does keep your attention but there were times the plot sped along - it was almost as they'd made three times as much film and accepted they just had to miss some bits out.  It also feels like it's trying too hard to be mysterious at times and it's not always clear what people's motivations are.  Some of them are partially explained by the end of the film and it does reach some sort of conclusion, but not a completely satisfactory one for me.  I'm also not sure why the film has chapters - it seems a peculiar choice and doesn't really add anything as far as I can tell.

It is a very fine looking film - there's beautiful, rugged scenery and the period details are very impressive - their ranch is amazing and the very old cars are pretty impressive too.  Jane Campion certainly knows how to frame a shot and she doesn't let us down here.

This film features way more castration than you need in a film - and by that, I mean it features some.  I can also confirm it features way more naked Benedict Cumberbatch than I need in a film, but I can also appreciate others may not complain about such matters.  It also features a lot more men wearing chaps than you'll see in an average film - they really are very peculiar articles of clothing indeed.  I'm sure they're all very practical, but I also think it unlikely I'm ever going to need a pair.

So - was this the best film of the year?  It is a good film and certainly worth a watch, but I'm not sure it's quite as good as it thinks it is.  I enjoyed it, but i won't be making my top X of the year - and you'll just have to read my next post to find out which films do (and the use of X tells you I might not have finished it yet!).

At the time of writing, the film is available on Netflix - and seeing as how it's a Netflix film I'm guessing it will be there for the foreseeable future.

#2 - Really?
2021 - The top 51 films