Rent First Cow (2019)

Poignant, intelligent tale of the 1820s frontier - First Cow review by PD

Kelly Reichardt’s wonderful film opens with a present-day scene involving two neat skeletons being found side by side by a curious dog and its owner, who treats the find like a professional archaeologist. It doesn't take us long to realise that these are the bodies of Cookie Figowitz and King-Lu, the friendship of which the film concerns itself. Their remains are remnants of a long-gone West, namely 1820s Oregon - its mélange of business and trade, origins and ethnicities, together with its opportunities and dangers, superbly depicted. John Magaro is spot-on as as Cookie, a humble Jewish cook travelling West from Maryland with a gang of fur traders who seem to hate him, his performance beautifully complemented by Orion Lee as King-Lu. on the run from killing a man. Their friendship is quickly kindled; the men move in together out of the completely natural instinct, often shared by outsiders, to stick together. Lee takes the Western trope of the indecipherable East Asian outsider, typically a complete non-character, and imbues King-Lu with a magnetic cleverness—something intriguingly at odds with Cookie’s humility, in that it could work to Cookie’s benefit or his complete demise. Magaro, meanwhile, is an actor with the kind eyes of a saint - the scenes involving him sweet-talking a cow into relinquishing her milk are tender and totally convincing.

But the men’s friendship isn’t the only story of First Cow. It’s the seed of something larger, portended by way of William Blake in the film’s epigraph: “The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.” This being a Western of sorts (but don't expect any 'action' - Reinhardt is in no hurry at all), tensions arise from the broader problems of commerce and ambition that beset these men. Capital, the film reveals, is sustained through intimate transactions, be they the lowly designs of propertyless men like Cookie and King-Lu, the face-to-face haggling of culture and craft between whites and Natives, or the deals people apparently make with nature and fate. King-Lu is the guy with a mind for business, who takes Cookie’s humble ideas—the man just wants to bake!—and, through acumen and risk, makes them plausible, but, inevitably, Cookie and King-Lu find themselves enmeshed in the sort of trouble that arises when the have-nots try to make a way in the world for themselves.

Throughout, Reichardt successfully undoes the traditions of Western iconography - in place of the vast and symbolic possibilities of Monument Valley as with John Ford, we get tight, local depths based on forests and local life, whilst her emphasis on specific slits of character—the holes in Cookie’s boots, the sensual waves of his honey dipper as he lovingly garnishes the oily cakes that become his trade—has the effect that untouchable horizons and broad vistas do in more traditional Westerns. At the same time, here, as with Reichardt’s other films, the characters’ lives are whittled down to spirit-shaking, material choices, decisions that at times literally set the course for the rest of their lives.

There's a few little implausible plot contrivances in the last sequence, but given what went before one is swept along nonetheless. Poignant and highly intelligent filmaking.

Slow Drama - First Cow review by GI

This drama set in Oregon in the 1820s has been critically acclaimed and to be sure there is a visual beauty to the film that takes place in the woods on the North West frontier. It's a tale of friendship with a pre credit William Blake quote signposting the theme of fulfilment through companionship. But I found the film ultimately somewhat too contemplative and lacking. It follows two drifters Cookie (John Magaro) and King-Lu (Orion Lee) who join up and find a common goal in seeking their fortune. Cookie is a trained baker and they come up with a plan to sell buttermilk cakes to the locals who are deprived of any culinary luxuries. To do this they begin covertly milking the famed jersey cow of the local pompous bigwig (Toby Jones). He doesn't react well when this is discovered. This is a narrative that is looking closely at the search for the American Dream through the friendship of two no-hopers (I even detected a hint of a gay subtext here) but it's a slow film which I found rather limited and a bit tedious.

Oh dear - First Cow review by MH

Seen 'Meak's Cut-off' and 'Wendy and Lucy'. Why, of why, did I think 'First Cow' would be any better. It wasn't. Remind me to avoid all Kelly Reichardt movies in future. Self-indulgent rubbish.

Very disappointing frontier movie - First Cow review by CD

This is described by some reviewers as "immersive". It certainly has almost no plot and the characters drift in and out without any real colour or identity. There are also experiments with the lighting that did not work at all for me - having minutes of darkness and other twilight scenes was not in any way compensated for by meaningful dialogue. Overall very disappointing.

Too slow for me - First Cow review by IM

Gave up on it after about 40 minutes, rightly or wrongly! I found the renering of period and place and situation inresting at first but not gripping enough. The lighting is overwhelmingly dark!

Slow As Wood - First Cow review by IG

This may be a good film, we'll never know, turned it off after enduring 20 minutes of dull mumbling inaction that lacked any atmosphere or purpose, to compound matters the screen format mimics that of old style cinema/TV which renders your wide screen TV pointless, and, if it's OLED does nothing for the longevity of the led's.

I'm puzzled - First Cow review by Maureen

The film starts with a young woman finding two skeletons in the earth. Then we have two men having a punch-up, followed by a scene in a village where a man is looking lasciviously at a girl carrying a load, then there's a scene in a bar where nobody is smiling or looking friendly. In addition, there were two shots of a riverboat with no seeming connection to the rest of the action (or inaction). It all seemed so down-beat and thoroughly miserable that my wife and I wondered why we'd ordered it and turned it off, so we can't comment on the rest of the film. This was not a good choice.

George Roby.