Plays July 17 - 31
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
2019, USA, 121 min
Once again, America’s most vital independent director Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, Certain Women, Old Joy) has created a beautiful new feature set in 1802’s Oregon. First Cow is a “wondrous little story about two friends – A taciturn loner and skilled cook (played by John Magaro) and a Chinese immigrant (played by Orion Lee) who roam the natural splendors of the Pacific Northwest, searching for their place in the world. The appeal of this hypnotic, unpredictable movie comes from how they find that place through mutual failure, and the nature of that outcome in the context of an early, untamed America has rich implications that gradually seep into the frame. Reichardt excels at communing with natural beauty and humankind’s complex relationship to it, but “First Cow” pushes that motif into timeless resonance. – Eric Kohn, IndieWIRE
Cinematheque at Home – curated by the Cinematheque – will offer new theatrical releases every week which our audiences can pay to stream through our website (by clicking the ‘buy tickets’ button). This is not only an opportunity for our patrons to see new cinema, but is an important way that they can continue to support independent film during this pandemic.
Reviews
Perfectly made, perfectly acted and ultimately moving—a melancholy memory in miniature...a distant time that may be more like our own than we know.
— Stephen Whitty, Screen International
A tremendously engaging story.
— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
A sublime companion piece to 2006’s Old Joy. With First Cow, Kelly Reichardt, America’s foremost chronicler of small stories has delivered another slowburn heartbreaker.... Constantly transfixing... First Cow pulses with painterly and poetic details.
— Sophie Monks Kaufman, Little White Lies
