The film has a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Netflix has just re-added The Power of the Dog, its Oscar-winning Western movie that was released back in 2021.
Written and directed by two-time Oscar-winner Jane Campion (The Piano) and adapted from the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage, the revisionist Western is set in 1920s Montana.
It follows a cruel and tough rancher named Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) who clashes with Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst), the new wife of his more gentle brother George (Jesse Plemons).
That said, while Phil endeavours to make Rose’s life difficult, he forms an unexpected bond with her son from a former marriage, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee).
The Power of the Dog was acclaimed by critics, thanks to its beautiful cinematography, its incredible performances, its fascinating exploration of masculinity and its dark surprising story.
It went on to earn an incredible 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and was also nominated for 11 Oscars, winning Best Director for Campion.
However, despite being released first on Netflix and marketed as an original for the streaming service, the film left its library in Ireland and the UK last August.
As to the reasons for this, Digital Spy wrote at the time that The Power of the Dog’s original distribution deal for the UK and Ireland included a one-year exclusive window for the BBC, who helped produce the movie.
The website stated that when that year had passed, the film would return to Irish and UK Netflix – which has just happened.
You can read some of the rave reviews for The Power of the Dog right here:
Buzzfeed News: “It’s a slow build, and for most of the time, I had no idea where this was all heading – which only made its shocking but well-earned ending all the more gratifying.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune: “The acting is sensational and Campion caps it off with a perfectly unsettling conclusion.”
Newsday: “Broken into chapters, it starts as a nicely observed period piece, darkens into a psychological drama, then becomes an exercise in dread.”
New York Times: “The Power of the Dog builds tremendous force, gaining its momentum through the harmonious discord of its performances, the nervous rhythms of Jonny Greenwood’s score and the grandeur of its visuals.”
Thrillist: “It’s an epic about the way the male id can crush everyone it touches, anchored by a brilliant masquerade of a performance by Cumberbatch, his best yet.”
The Power of the Dog is streaming on Netflix in Ireland, the UK and the US right now.
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