First Cow takes place in the 1820s in the Pacific Northwest. Directed by Kelly Reichardt (“Certain Women”) it’s a slow moving film with subdued scenery that will not capture the attention of everyone. (It’s an indie film; in my local parlance a “Palm Theater” movie.) It has two things going for it: a tale of friendship, and yes, the cow.
“Cookie” (John Magaro, Orange is the New Black) is the cook for a band of fur trappers. While out on the trail, he finds King-Lu (Orion Lee), a Chinese immigrant naked in the bushes on the run. After being clothed and fed by Cookie, King-Lu takes off down the river. The pair are re-united at a village bar and join forces. Join forces for what is unclear at first, as the two are from different worlds and cautious of strangers. They soon come to trust each other and realize together they can have twice as good a chance at surviving their world. They share a shack and food, as well as hopes and dreams of the future.
The men learn of a dairy cow in the area; a big deal since it’s the only one for miles around. Cookie had once worked in a bakery and shares his dream with King-Lu of one day owning one in San Francisco. He says he could use the cow’s milk to make baked goods. They go out at night and milk the cow with Cookie performing that task and King-Lu keeping watch from up in a tree. They take the first batch of oily cake biscuits to town and start selling them on the street. It’s immediately apparent that the biscuits are a mouth-watering hit. While Cookie thinks the biscuits could be better, King-Lu knows that they are best tasting treats the locals have probably ever experienced. More trips to the cow result in people lining the street and the budding entrepreneurs running out of product every time. Alas, as in many a good caper, the old “let’s do it one more time” is one too many. The gig is up.
The audio part of the movie is mostly two-fold: music by American musician, William Tyler and the sounds of nature. Tyler’s sparse, delicate acoustic guitar, mandolin and banjo are the perfect complement for the time period and deliberate pacing of the movie. Secondly, this is the first Kelly Reichardt movie I’ve seen, but from reviews of her earlier work she is known for incorporating the natural language into her stories. This movie is no exception. The birds! Really, as the pair tramp through the woods you become immersed and surrounded by the squawks and tweets of the forest.
First Cow is a story of an unlikely friendship and the cow-inspired dilemma engulfing them. This central part of the story is the most engaging. The end left me wanting somewhat, though I don’t always have to have everything wrapped up nice and neat (I liked the ending of The Sopranos.) In this case, it’s not so much what happened, but how they got there that was left open.
D² Rating ◼◼◼ ☐☐
Trivia ? – What Canadian actor starred in the title role of of Meek’s Cutoff, another film directed by Kelly Reichardt, also set in Oregon in the 1800s?
Answer: Bruce Greenwood