First Cow

Director: Kelly Reichardt
Cast: John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones
Film Info: 122 minutes, USA, 2019, 12A

Synopsis

Award-winning director Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy, Certain Women) returns with this touching story of two outsiders who join forces in a tenuous plan to make their fortune on the frontiers of the American Northwest. 

In 1820s Oregon, an unlikely partnership is formed when a quiet, but skilled cook encounters a well-educated Chinese immigrant who is on the run. The two embark on setting up a business that relies on them secretly milking the first and only cow to arrive in the territory, and using the stolen liquid to make delicious biscuits and cakes. 

Grappling with market forces while duping the ruling classes, their friendship grows as they endeavour to succeed in the hostile environment of the American frontier.

Festivals

Telluride Film Festival 2019
Berlin International Film Festival 2020
Locarno Film Festival 2020
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021

Awards

Winner – Best Film, New York Film Critics Circle Awards 2020 

Quotes

“★ ★ ★ ★ ★ … a film of sparking tenderness and affection …’’  – Clarisse Loughrey, Independent (UK)

“★ ★ ★ ★ … a fable of land and freedom that serves as an up-close-and-personal portrait of friendship and a wider snapshot of America, rooted in the rich soil of the Pacific north-west.” – Mark Kermode, The Observer