20 Best Movie Performances Of 2021
14. Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Power Of The Dog
It'd be easy for Kodi Smit-McPhee's performance in Jane Campion's western drama to be overshadowed by the more volcanic, buzzed-about work from Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst, but the young actor is an absolutely vital piece of the movie's slow-forming puzzle.
Smit-McPhee makes innkeeper Rose Gordon's (Dunst) peculiar son Peter a fascinating cipher of a character for much of the film. We think we know exactly what he is to begin with, but over the course of the film it gradually becomes clear there's far more percolating beneath the surface.
His dynamic with Cumberbatch's sadistic rancher Phil Burbank is impossible to turn away from, and the outcome is a massively gratifying payoff to two hours of quiet unease.