First Cow (2019)

(On Cable TV, March 2021) I thought that there may have been something interesting in First Cow, but I was wrong. While the film achieves its own objectives, those are so utterly alien to me that I was bored from beginning to end. Taking place in the American Northwest at a time when the arrival of a cow was a significant event, the story follows two men trying to eke out an existence — a Chinese immigrant and a white cook, both of them more or less on the run from bad people. Their big scheme, upon spotting the cow, is to secretly milk her and use the milk as basis for cookies — which works until the cow’s owner realizes what they’re doing. If you think that’s a comedy, think again — in practice, writer/director Kelly Reichardt is going for gritty tragedy (unexplainably shot in 3:4 aspect ratio, no less), and the low-budget filmmaking only leads to a downer ending. The path from beginning to end, however, feels far longer than its plodding 121 minutes — thanks to slow-paced directing and static cinematography, the film can’t even deliver its skimpy story in an effective manner. This, looking at Reichardt’s filmography, seems to be somewhat consistent for her — atmosphere over narrative and contemplation over storytelling. I suppose there’s an audience for that kind of film (most of the film’s positive reviews inevitably come with an appreciation of Reichardt’s filmography) but I’m not part of it. While I did like bits and pieces of the result (including a cameo from Alia Shawkat, a supporting turn from Toby Jones and a few moments between lead actors John Magaro and Orion Lee), the film as a whole left me cold and bored. Unlike First Cow itself, let’s not drag on this review any longer than necessary.