Fri, 16 Jul
|South Hill Park Cinema
First Cow (12A) at South Hill Park
Reichardt’s offbeat gem about an unlikely friendship is a satisfying fable of America’s past and present OBSERVER
Time & Location
16 Jul 2021, 14:30
South Hill Park Cinema, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Ringmead, Bracknell RG12 7PA, UK
About the Event
Directed by Kelly Reichardt | Drama | English | 122 mins | US | 2019
This understated film is essentially a friendship drama centred around two resourceful men - one an American cook ('Cookie'), the other a Chinese immigrant on the run (King-Lu). They collaborate on a baking business in 1820s Oregon Territory. They achieve some fleeting capital by stealing milk from a rich landowner’s cow and using it to sell homemade oily cakes (doughnuts?), pungent confections that will make your stomach grumble whether you are a 19th-century aristocrat or a present-day viewer. The film is based on Jonathan Raymond’s novel The Half Life. First Cow is an enthralling and entertaining watch, as well as a calm, clear-eyed observation of national traditions of ownership and isolation, the rules designed to keep society’s outcasts out.
Kelly Reichardt’s warm 19th-century drama is a surprising treat filled with friendship, tenderness and deep-fried dough GUARDIAN
Jury Prize, Deauville Film Festival 2020
Best Film, National Board of Review, USA 2021
Film Critics Circle Awards 2020 (New York, Denver, Florida, Philadelphia, New Mexico, San Francisco)