Summary
In this udderly enchanting piece, indie filmmaker Kelly Reichardt returns to themes of bromance and natural realism without milking her recurring motifs.
If the duos that Kelly Reichardt develops onscreen are intriguing, it’s perhaps due to the collaborations she’s fostered offscreen. Will Oldham and Michelle Williams are so strongly tied to her earlier work, of course, but it’s Jonathan Raymond who has been a creative partner since Old Joy.
Partnership is such a central theme to Reichardt’s work, and FIRST COW is no exception. Based on the novel by Raymond, who also co-scripted Night Moves, the scene is set in the Oregon frontier in early 19th century. Mind you, as present-day establishing scene with Alia Shawkat reminds us, Portland has maintained a timeless vibe for over a century. Even the beard lengths remain the same.
Otis “Cookie” Figowitz (John Magaro) is a chef whose quiet demeanour is at odds with the raucous fur trappers he’s travelling with. When he meets King-Lu (Orion Lee), a Chinese immigrant seeking his fortune, the connection they form changes their fate. They begin working together on a successful cake venture, although it is reliant on stolen milk from the territory’s only cow, owned by the wealthy Chief Factor (Toby Jones).
Reichardt is no stranger to the period setting, having explored the role of women of that era in the brilliant Meek’s Cutoff. Reichardt and Raymond take the bromance and naturalism of Old Joy and combine it with the offbeat opportunities that cows inevitably provide.
In fact, FIRST COW acts as a kind of companion piece to Old Joy. Where that film was a quiet study of two men taking divergent paths at the crossroads of adulthood, here those paths join up in quietly unassuming ways. Cookie and King-Lu have lengthy existential conversations in the gentle embrace of their natural surroundings, much like their counterparts Kurt and Mark did 14 years earlier (or 186 years later if you prefer).
As with Meek’s Cutoff, Reichardt employs a 4:3 or ‘square’ aspect ratio. In that earlier film, there was some very deliberate thinking behind it. By slicing out the periphery, she not only replicated the perspective of the women’s bonnets, but also added to the sense of unseen danger. Here it’s a far more intimate application, forcing the viewer to focus only on those things directly in front of us. In this way, we fully absorb every word and natural element that Reichardt and regular cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt focus on.
At one point in the film, Cookie and King-Lu discuss their differing views of the frontier. “It doesn’t seem new to me,” says Cookie. “It seems old.” Which is a bit like watching a Kelly Reichardt film. Her recurring motifs are familiar, and the setting is as old as cinema itself, but it still feels fresh and immediate at every turn.
2019 | US| DIRECTOR: Kelly Reichardt | WRITER: Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Raymond | CAST: John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones, Ewen Bremner, Scott Shephard, Gary Farmer, Lily Gladstone| DISTRIBUTOR: MIFF 2020 (AUS), A24 (US) | RUNNING TIME: 121 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 August 2020 (MIFF)
