John Magaro (The Big Short) and Orion Lee (A Brilliant Young Mind) are 19-century fur trappers out to make a fortune in this American drama from Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy), based on co-writer Jonathan Raymond's novel, The Half Life.
"A taciturn loner and skilled cook (Magaro) has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant (Lee) also seeking his fortune; soon the two collaborate on a successful business, although its longevity is reliant upon the clandestine participation of a nearby wealthy landowner's prized milking cow." (New York Film Festival)
Decidedly moulded from the revisionist anti-Western contours of a McCabe and Mrs. Miller, First Cow is a wonderful showcase of Reichardt’s invigoratingly clear-eyed and understated register. It’s a kind vision of a frontier dream that elegantly addresses class imbalance and the corrupting influence of colonialism and greed with wry, subtle humour and genuine empathy for its characters.
Full reviewWill strike some viewers as too little in terms of dramatic machinery. Whatever.
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The deliberate paces of Reichardt's storytelling do cast a sort of spell: a bittersweet comic absurdity, told in the rhythms of real life.
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Perfectly made, perfectly acted and ultimately moving - a melancholy memory in miniature, a Daguerreotype of a distant time that may be more like our own than we know.
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King-Lu and Cookie need each other...and First Cow commiserates with their journey in a kind-hearted fashion that allows the movie to resonate with more warmth than it initially lets on.
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While not a lot happens in First Cow by the standards of most two-hour narrative films, and some may wish for a less open-ended conclusion, the drama's rough-edged lyricism kept me rapt the entire time.
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Reichardt specialises in pared-down narratives, sometimes stripping away so much that boredom sets in. "First Cow" may be lean, but it offers ample room to ruminate in the comparison between its two time periods.
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The sense of a nascent community rising up out of the primordial muck is palpable, so it's unfortunate that John Magaro and Orion Lee's characters ultimately feel outside it all.
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