Twelve years elapsed in the time between Jane Campion’s last movie and “The Power of the Dog,” which has now earned 12 Academy Award nominations — one for every year that we spent waiting to see if the Oscar-winning director of “The Piano” would ever return to the big screen. And boy has she ever (at least for those of us lucky to see Netflix’s latest Best Picture contender at a festival or during its brief theatrical run). Adapted from Thomas Savage’s semi-autobiographical 1967 novel of the same name, this poison-tipped Western finds Campion at the absolute top of her lake, not to mention the top of critics’ lists around the world.
It remains to be seen if “The Power of the Dog” has the support it needs to succeed where the likes of “Roma” and “The Irishman” fell short and finally earn Netflix the prize that’s eluded it for so many years in a row, but — per our completely subjective calculations — Campion’s triumphant return is worthy of being an Oscar night juggernaut the likes of which we haven’t seen since “Return of the King” or, um, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Join us for a category-by-category look at each of the film’s 12 nominations as we determine just how many Academy Awards “The Power of the Dog” actually deserves to win.
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