Review: First Cow

Image courtesy of A24.

Similar to Kelly Reichardt's other films, "First Cow" is what one might call a slow burn because it leisurely introduces its characters and story and takes its time getting to its destination. Some might call the filmmaker's works slow, but I'd say they're measured and patient.

"First Cow" is a gentle tale of two men who struggle to make it during some very tough times - in the wilds of Oregon in the 1820s. The film - which is based on Jonathan Raymond's novel "The Half Life" - starts with a mystery, of sorts: a young woman and her dog are walking along a secluded trail, when the pup starts digging in the ground. The woman finds two skeletons laying side by side under the earth.

At this point, the story picks up its 19th century tale by introducing Cookie Figowitz (John Magaro), a cook traveling with a group of surly trappers who bully him when he has difficulty finding edibles in the woods. While out searching for food one night, he stumbles upon a shirtless Asian man named King-Lu (Orion Lee), who has fled a group of Russians. King-Lu tells Cookie that the Russians killed one of his friends and, in self defense, he in turn killed one of them.

Due to his generous nature, Cookie helps King-Lu hide out, keeping him out of sight of the trappers with whom he's traveling. Once they arrive at a fort, he parts ways with the group. Shortly thereafter, he runs into King-Lu again. The two men overhear a conversation taking place about the local governor's purchase of the territory's first cow - the cow's mate and calf died on the trip from San Francisco.

Cookie and King-Lu sneak over to the governor's property at night and steal some of the cow's milk. The next morning, Cookie has fried up some biscuits mixed with various ingredients he picked up during his apprenticeship days in Boston. King-Lu is astounded at how tasty the biscuit is, and he comes up with a plan - the two men will sell the items in the local market square.

Their plan results in a success - after a few days, men start lining up for, and even squabbling over, the biscuits, which are limited in amount due to the amount of milk they are able to pilfer each evening. Cookie has dreams of opening a hotel in San Francisco, and King-Lu wants to find success in the country in which he has made a new home.

Then, one day, their delicacy is noticed by the governor himself - played with snotty aplomb by Toby Jones - who wants to try the biscuits. We know this might spell trouble for the duo. Sure enough, the governor is so impressed that he invites the two men to come to his house to serve food at a gathering he is hosting. Their appearance sets off a chain of events that lead to the film's dramatic climax.

"First Cow," which was released for just a few days in theaters before COVID-19 shut down movie theaters and is now available for streaming, is a movie that takes its time getting to where it's going. In fact, the actual plot doesn't even kick in until at least a quarter of the film's running time has passed. But this is the type of film in which story plays second fiddle - the focus instead is on the hypnotic visuals in which the camera holds on scenes of nature and early 19th century life as well as the camaraderie between the two leads.

"First Cow" is about finding friendship - and in this case, brotherhood - in the places you might not expect. The picture slowly but surely builds from that opening scene of a discovery to a lovely - and somewhat devastating - final shot in which Reichardt allows us to use our imagination to figure out how one led to the other.

Magaro and Lee are both very good in understated performances, and the narrative slowly sneaks up on you and builds to something both moving and enlightening. Like Cookie's biscuits, Reichardt provides viewers with some simple ingredients, and manages to make something magical out of them.