Ever sinceJane Campion’s revisionist westernThe Power of the Dogpremiered last September at theVenice International Film Festival, it has been the assumed Best Picture frontrunner. The adaptation ofThomas Savage’s groundbreaking novel of the same name has been almost universally acclaimed for its deconstruction of masculine stereotypes in western fiction (despite whatSam Elliothas to say). Since then, nothing has seemed to stopThe Power of the Dog’s trajectory towards Oscar victory. The film recently picked up Best Picture wins at the Critics Choice Awards, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, and many other smaller organizations.
The actual Academy Award nominations did little to dispel this notion;The Power of the Dogearned a historic twelve nominations, and is largely predicted to at least take home both Best Picture and Best Director for Campion. Among the honorees who’ve been paraded around awards season is the young Australian starKodi Smit-McPhee, who received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Early on within the season, Smit-McPhee was the assumed frontrunner to win. That has changed recently with the support forCODA’sTroy Kotsur, but nevertheless Smit-McPhee’s success is rare among young male actors.
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If you watchThe Power the Dog, it’s easy to see why Smit-McPhee is winning over voters. He gives a heartbreaking performance as the medical scholar Peter Gordon, who is raised by his mother Rose (Kirsten Dunst) on a Montana ranch. Rose is wed to the ranch’s co-owner George Burbank (Jesse Plemons), whose cruel brother Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) takes pleasure in tormenting Peter for his diminutive nature. After relentlessly bullying the shy young man, Phil begins to open up. He and Peter form a powerful bond that develops into a jaw dropping conclusion.
Although Smit-McPhee has been praised for subverting expectations with his performance, it wasn’t the first time he redefined the image of a young western hero. One of his breakout performances was in writer/directorJohn Maclean’s highly underrated surrealist westernSlow Westin 2015. The darkly comedic adventure starred McPhee as the naive young romantic lead Jay Cavendish, who learns about the realities of the desert wasteland from his new mentor, the scheming bounty hunter Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender).Slow WestmirrorsThe Power of the Dogin many ways; both films show an unusual relationship between mentor and protégé, and both end with a surprising change in loyalties.
Slow Westproved that Smit-McPhee was more than just another YA hero who was destined to be passed between various franchises. After breaking out inJohn Hillcoat’s post-apocalyptic dramaThe Road, Smit-McPhee popped up in popular studio films likeLet Me In, ParaNorman, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and the last two installments in theX-Menprequel franchise. He’s not bad in any of them, butSlow Westshowed that McPhee was aware of the reputation that young male stars develop. Jay’s noble pursuits aren’t initially indifferent from those of a typical YA protagonist, but he’s both humiliated and humbled by his adventures on the frontier.
Slow Westis set during an ambiguous period in the 19th Century, when large portions of the American West are still uninhabited by settlers. Jay is a young Scotsman who ventures into the dangerous territory to search for his childhood crush, Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius). Jay had professed his love for Rose while the two lived together in Scotland, but Rose’s father John (Rory Cahaan) deemed him unworthy of his daughter. As Jay sets off on his quest, he doesn’t stop to consider that Rose simply isn’t interested in him. He’s even less prepared to survive on his own.
Smit-McPhee shows the common ignorance that Jay has, lampooning a traditionally heroic male protagonist. Jay is pretty much useless; he doesn’t know the first thing about finding food, making a shelter, or riding a horse. He knows even less about the nature of men; he takes everything that Selleck says at face value, and never considers the idea that he’d be betrayed. Silas hears of Jay’s mission to meet Rose, and he’s intrigued by her father’s supposed wealth. He decides to take advantage of Jay, and he doesn’t have to work that hard to deceive him.
Similar to Peter inThe Power of the Dog, Jay miserably fails to pick up the qualities that make his new mentor so fearsome. As Jay and Silas are hunted by the eccentric bounty hunter Payne (Ben Mendelsohn), Jay admits he’s adverse to violence, and has no idea how to handle a weapon. It’s a funny recurring joke, but it reveals his complete inability to provide for Rose. Even if he actually succeeds in wooing her, how could they possibly survive on the frontier?
Impressively, Smit-McPhee still makes Jay a sympathetic character. He’s not inherently toxic, and his lack of cruelty comes at a fault. It’s not clear exactlywhenJay made his first mistake, but he’s out of place in both his romantic endeavors and new profession of bounty hunting. He’s a surprisingly relatable character; McPhee plays up Jay’s embarrassment to a cartoonish level, but it’s still tough to watch him get humiliated when he finally reaches his destination.
Slow Westconcludes with the expected consequences. Jay is slain within a battle with Payne after learning that Rose barely even recognizes him. Silas, the man he has molded himself after, decides to wed Rose for himself. It’s clear that Jay wasn’t the man he was pretending to be, but that he may have matured into someone more like Silas if he had survived. His death is another cruel irony withinSlow West’s comedy of errors.
McPhee added a depth inSlow Westthat previewed what he would accomplish as Peter inThe Power of the Dog. In both films, he makes a potentially irritating character surprisingly pleasant, despite his obvious flaws. Regardless of whether he takes home an Oscar at this year’s ceremony, McPhee has shown a self-awareness that makes him well worth watching in his roles down the line.
