Kelly Reichardt ‘s FIRST COW is a sly delight and is showing up on Best Of list on the Indy circuit. Fascinating and beautiful, COW follows the simple duo of Cookie (John Magaro) and King Lu (Orion Lee) who at first perfectly blend into an amazing rustic village in Oregon in the 1800s.
This world, captured by the production team, seems handmade and ready to topple in on itself… and the film features a huge ensemble of people, most of whom go on their way living life. It is a thoroughly engaging place, and it seems like every extra could have a film of their own extraordinary personality.
Life is uprooted when the town gets its first cow, magically floated on the river. And Cookie and King Lu have a scheme which decides their destiny.
It is simple, important, and timely proving once again that steeling sometimes is very profitable and great force for good indeed. Until its not.
Magaro and Lee are perfect in their roles, but for me the stars of the show are the members of the production team. John Raymond adapted the screenplay from his own book, and William Tyler created the lovely score.
There is not a lot of action in FIRST COW, but it is mesmerizing and suspenseful if you allow it the time to work its magic.
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