First Cow (12A) at South Hill Park
Fri 16 Jul
|South Hill Park Cinema
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…