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Explore best of director Campion

Her latest is an early holiday present, available on Netflix

By Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
Published: December 3, 2021, 6:03am

Jane Campion’s latest film — the sweeping, uneasy psychological Western “Power of the Dog” — has hit Netflix, an early holiday treat for cinephiles.

“Power of the Dog” cements Campion’s status as one of our finest master filmmakers, though her body of work proves that designation was never in question.

“Power of the Dog,” for which Campion won the Silver Lion prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival, is adapted from the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as mysterious Montana rancher Phil Burbank, a mercurial figure who affects an outsize influence on the lives of his brother and sister-in-law (Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst) while forging a strange connection with his step-nephew (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Campion tells this story in glances, gesture and song, crafting a carefully studied and breathless mystery. It’s an astonishing achievement anchored by virtuosic performances from Cumberbatch and Dunst.

Wisely, Netflix also has made available to stream three more of Campion’s best films, for anyone who might want to seek out more of her work after (or before) watching “Power of the Dog.” Don’t hesitate to watch “The Piano,” for which Campion was the first female filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993, for this stunning historical romantic drama starring Holly Hunter, Sam Neill, Harvey Keitel and Anna Paquin, set in Campion’s native New Zealand. Campion also won the Oscar for the screenplay of “The Piano,” with Hunter and Paquin winning Oscars for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.

Also on Netflix is Campion’s 2003 erotic thriller “In the Cut,” starring Meg Ryan playing against type, opposite Mark Ruffalo as a detective investigating a brutal murder.

For something gentler, Campion’s 2009 film “Bright Star,” starring Ben Whishaw as poet John Keats and Abbie Cornish as his lover Fanny Brawne, is a gorgeous swoon of pure cinema.

If you’d like to go back all the way to the beginning of Campion’s remarkable career, her directorial debut — the 1989 film “Sweetie,” about a dysfunctional Australian family — is streaming on HBO Max.

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