Written by Kelly Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond, based on a novel by Jonathan Raymond
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Starring John Magaro, Orion Lee and Toby Jones
Running time: 2 hours and 2 minutes 
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport

“Why is a baker like a beggar?” 

When a movie opens with the skeletal remains of a human being, the chances are rather high that I am going to enjoy the picture. First Cow comes out swinging. Within the first five minutes, not one but two skeletal frames were unearthed.

Kelly Reichardt’s eighth film, First Cow is made with the same care one finds from a distinguished baker. Nothing is thrown into the mix without meticulous care and thought. Otherwise, one may find something doesn’t taste quite right. The story is quite simple but, much like a recipe, if the proper ingredients wouldn’t have been used, it may not have yielded such a tremendous result. A skilled, yet introverted cook that goes by Cookie Figowitz (John Magaro) stumbles upon a Chinese immigrant, King Lu (Orion Lee) in the northwest woodland, sometime in the 1820s. Cookie had been traveling with a group of fur trappers at the time and served as their culinary comrade, of sorts.

Cookie and King Lu hit it off and find friendship in the isolated woods of Oregon. In some ways, they reminded me of a Laurel and Hardy type duo. They did not invoke knee slapping laughter, but it was their unique friendship and banter that gave Cookie and King a somewhat iconic feel. They essentially had all the fixings for a great team; Cookie a dreamer, while King is a schemer. When the two share their brainstorms for the future, Cookie has pie in the sky ideas like opening a hotel with a bakery, while King Lu really seems to only have interest in obtaining a large fortune. King may not have ideas, but he knows how to get things done.

In tasting one of Cookie’s freshly made biscuits, he hatches a plan that quickly grows into a profitable enterprise by selling the homemade delicacies in the village to tradesmen. Only problem is, the acquisition of the supplies for their baked goods racket isn’t through lawful means. Cookie and King Lu are milk bandits. 

For the two of them, the life of crime seemed like the only option, as they so pointedly stated in discussing their entry into business, one “needs capital… leverage… or crime.” When King Lu learns that procurement of dairy would increase the overall quality of the biscuit, it is only logical for him to conclude that the cow that recently took up residence near them, was the answer to their problem. 

This cow caper may not quickly unravel, but I had fun watching the scenario play out. Both Cookie and King Lu are a pleasure to witness and when Toby Jones shows up, it only increased my enjoyment of the film. Toby plays Chief Factor or better known as the “sacred” cow’s owner (an obviously wealthy aristocrat). He catches wind of the duo’s bustling bakery business and tries one of the biscuits himself, not aware of the ingredients’s origin. It isn’t until he invites Cookie to his home to prepare, what I felt were, spite cakes for an expected guest, that moments of tension arrive in the film. For the prized dairy cow, who Toby notes has not been producing (dum dum dum) seems to have a fondness for Cookie despite him being a “stranger”. 

This is a quiet film and initially the pace came off as a bit slow or tedious to me. The overall plot isn’t complicated or convoluted, it is in the way in which it plays out that makes it fun to watch. Reichardt takes the viewer on a visual adventure in a rustic and primitive setting. A time that was far from perfect, but yet a little less cluttered. In my reflections afterwards, I found her method of storytelling to be deliberate. A reminder from Reichardt, to sit back and take a trip to a simpler (quiet) time that was without cell phones, gadgets and beeps. Enjoy the surroundings, atmosphere and find comfort in a made from scratch warm biscuit. 

First Cow is available to watch on demand starting Friday, July 10. More info found here.