Film Review - Is This a Feminist Film?

Jane Campion is famous for The Piano and a baby grand plays a crucial role in her new film The Power of the Dog, in which Benedict Cumberbatch plays a heavy smoking, unwashed and deeply troubled rancher in 1920s Montana. Briony Hanson reviews the film for Front Row and considers the lengths to which actors will go to create a character.

All the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize are artistic collectives. In the run-up to the award ceremony, Front Row will hear what the prize means to each of them. This evening, we hear from Cooking Sections, an artistic duo who reflect on the climate emergency and how we can make the food we eat more environmentally friendly.

When he accepted the Booker Prize earlier this month for his novel The Promise, South African author Damon Galgut said: ‘This has been a great year for African writing and I’d like to accept this on behalf of all the stories told and untold, the writers heard and unheard from the remarkable continent that I’m part of. Please keep listening to us, there’s a lot more to come…’ Tonight we shine a spotlight on contemporary literature from his home country of South Africa and bring Damon together in conversation from Cape Town with the award-winning debut author of Scatterlings, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe.

PRESENTER: Tom Sutcliffe PRODUCER: Olivia Skinner

PHOTO: BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH as PHIL BURBANK and GEORGE MASON as CRICKET in THE POWER OF THE DOG. PHOTO CREDIT: KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX