TRAILERS

First Look Trailer for Jane Campion's New Film 'The Power of the Dog'

by Alex Billington
August 26, 2021
Source: YouTube

"Phil is a whistler, and a good one. His fingers move like spiders' legs. A severe, pale-eyed rancher, he inspires fear and awe." Netflix has unveiled the first look teaser trailer for Jane Campion's latest film The Power of the Dog, a gritty western romance set in Australia. This is world premiering at the 2021 Venice Film Festival next week, stopping by all the other major fall fests: the Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals as well. They spent months filming this in harsh conditions in Australia, and it's finally ready for debut. Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love. Benedict Cumberbatch stars, with a cast including Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Frances Conroy, Keith Carradine, Peter Carroll, and Adam Beach. There's not much to this first trailer, but there's enough to whet our appetites. Along with plenty of gorgeous cinematography. I've got a feeling this is going to be one of the most buzzed about films this year.

Here's the first teaser trailer (+ poster) for Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog, from YouTube:

All of Phil's romance, power and fragility is trapped in the past and in the land: He can castrate a bull calf with two swift slashes of his knife; he swims naked in the river, smearing his body with mud. He is a cowboy as raw as his hides. The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose, the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter. Phil behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, reveling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter – all except his brother George, who comforts Rose then returns to marry her. As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form – he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil's cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or a plot twisting further into menace? The Power of the Dog is both written and directed by acclaimed Kiwi filmmaker Jane Campion, of the films Sweetie, An Angel at My Table, The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke, In the Cut, and Bright Star previously. Adapted from the novel by Thomas Savage. This is premiering at the 2021 Venice Film Festival this year, along with Telluride, Toronto, New York. Netflix will then release The Power of the Dog in select US theaters on November 17th, 2021, streaming on Netflix on December 1st this fall. First impression?

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