Why The Power Of The Dog Will Win Best Picture
'Tis the week before the Oscars, and a field of 10 films-- the highest number since 2011! --are ramping up their campaigns in a last-minute push for the top prize of them all, Best Picture. The biggest award has the potential to be either one of the most anticlimactic or most surprising result in recent years. The former is true, because really only two films have won any of the prizes on the awards circuit, and one of those [Jane Campion's The Power Of The Dog] is a notable step ahead in the sweepstakes. However, no frontrunner is a traditional winner, nor is without its detractors; those facts, as well as the Oscars' less predictable preferential voting system means that no nominee can be counted out of the race. Spotlight's and Moonlight's back-to-back upsets in 2016 and 2017, and Parasite's stunner in 2020 taught us to expect the unexpected, so we're here to give fans of all 10 nominees reason to believe on Sunday the 27th.
The next Best Picture nominee in our preview series is the Western psychological drama, The Power of the Dog.
Like the last Best Picture nominee we previewed, The Power of the Dog is based on a novel written in the 1960s, this one by American West novelist Thomas Savage. The psychological thriller takes place in 1920s Montana, and is a slow burn of a film, one that touches gently and poignantly on themes of love, power, grief and sexuality.
Director Jane Campion, in her first film since 2009's Bright Star, also wrote the film and has garnered near-universal acclaim; she's the runaway favorite to win both Best adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. She's not alone in her acclaim, however. A terrific cast of actors have been praised for their note-perfect performances as well, with lead Benedict Cumberbatch and supporting players Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee all landing nominations for acting awards. The score, cinematography, design and editing have also landed nominations, which perhaps clues you into the fact that most critics consider just about every part of this film expertly crafted.
Though the film's plot and thematic content is vastly different, its slower pace, focus on the personal rather than global, and liberal use of the gorgeous Western landscapes (though this was in fact shot in Campion's resident New Zealand) bears resemblance to the reigning Best Picture winner, Nomadland. Many times that could be seen as a liability for a movie's odds, given the desire to reward a variety of films, but in this instance, I actually think it helps. The Oscars have tended to reward the more traditional, palatable films over the slower arthouse movies over the years, but Nomadland's victory last year shows that this kind of film can win even the highest honor. In case you needed any proof that movieheads and potential voters are undeterred by the temptation to elect a tone-shifting crowd-pleaser, consider this: Power of the Dog is the most-nominated film at these Academy Awards, with a grand total of 12 chances to win. It's also already notched Best Picture victories at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Critics Choice Awards, GoldDerby Awards, as well as from 10 different major cities' critics associations, to go with further nominations at the Producers Guild and Satellite Awards.
Taking all of that into account, it's no surprise that The Power of the Dog, unconventional a frontrunner as it may be, is the favorite to take home top honors.
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