‘The Power of the Dog’ Review: Wild Hearts on a Closed Frontier – The New York Times
The story turns on what happens when George marries Rose (Kirsten Dunst), a widow with a teenage son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee, who evokes the young Anthony Perkins of “Psycho”). Phil sees Rose as an opportunist and writes a letter of complaint to his parents, whom the brothers, more comically than fondly, refer to as the Old Lady and Old Gent (Frances Conroy and Peter Carroll). It’s a childish move, but in keeping with the infantilism that still shapes the brothers’ uneasy relationship and their awkwardness with outsiders, particularly women. Before Rose, the only other women at the ranch are a bosomy older cook and a girlish helper, both conveniently sexless.
When Rose first enters the Burbank house, Campion meaningfully pictures her in its gloom, the character’s pale face flickering lik...