"Director Kelly Reichardt edits her own film. Her rhythm at the beginning of the 19th-century frontier drama "The First Cow" is not unpredictable. It’s also peculiar. You can’t predict when she will be cut off, or where she will stay...or hang out, it depends on your patience with the elderly. You may find your thoughts wandering...until she uses A revelation, a flash of connection between two souls, or the first arousal of fear wakes you up. That's when you feel most energetic-when you find her wavelength, something unpredictable suddenly becomes Crystal clear."——David Edelstein
Hello everyone, the movie I bring to you today is "The First Cow". This American alternative western film, which was shortlisted in the main competition unit of the Berlin Film Festival at the beginning of the year, shows the audience the special friendship and broken American dream of two men during the westward movement in the early 19th century. Adapted from the latter's 2004 novel "Half-Life" by Reichardt and her often-written partner Jon Raymond.
Orion Lee (left) and John Magaro in the movie "The First Cow".
This touching story is in this director Kelly Reichardt's final stills, but it won't be spoiled at all—at least not in the traditional sense. It is a story about friendship. Like many movies, this movie heralded its own ending from the beginning. The story begins with a grim discovery roughly somewhere in Oregon, USA today, and then rewinds for about two centuries to the unstable 1820s, injecting a retrospective glimmer of suspense, fear, and tragedy into the Old West story.
Some viewers do not like this kind of frame installation,It feels like a narrative with a carrot hanging-as if the journey would not be so interesting if we don't know the destination yet. However, Reichardt, who has resisted the obvious throughout her career, avoided this trap with her persistent artistry. Even if you think you know the ending of the story, you might be surprised at how much she trusts the audience’s imagination. Fascinating history, like fascinating historical novels, is never just a simple record of who happened to it.
Let us enter that world with Otis Figowitz (John Magaro). He is a man in his 30s with gentle eyes and a soft-spoken man. He Cooked for a group of fur catchers who crossed the Oregon territory (and earned the nickname "Cookie"). In this overgrown woodland, he had poor cooking skills in Boston, where only berries and mushrooms came. To supplement their dwindling rations, and his hangar employer has no shortage of abuse. But Magaro’s affectionate and humble performance conveyed a man’s attitude, he was committed to his profession and was able to practice it to the best of his ability even under these ruthless conditions.
He is also an instinctively decent and sympathetic character. One night, he met a Chinese immigrant, King Lu (Orion Lee), who hid in the bushes, avoiding the pursuit of some tough people. But even though he was trembling naked in the cold, Lu was clearly sharp and resourceful, with a talent for sneaking behind the scenes, which made him more daring than others to take risks. Soon after Cookie provided him with food and shelter and helped him on the road, the two will reunite in a shanty town, where Lu has a hut. There, they became roommates and established friendships, eventually becoming work partners.
This cow was ordered by Factor, the leader of this place. King Lu came up with a way to make money selling pancakes, but he needed the cow's milk to improve the taste of the pancakes. Cookie and King Lu decided to steal milk at night after discussing it.
The biscuits of the two sold very well, so they stole more and more frequently. Not surprisingly, they were finally discovered, which attracted the pursuit of Factor...
Finally, the exhausted Cookie and King Lu closed their eyes one after another in the woods...
Partners and friends
This partnership started with the emergence of the first cow in Oregon Territory, a wealthy, hypocritical British landowner chief factor (a very nuanced Toby Jones) )the property of. The arrival of this magnificent creature, when she was floating down the river on the barge, chewing her rumination with solemn confusion, for the chief factor, it was both a status symbol and a sign of progress-it was a A declaration of pride, this difficult terrain can be tamed and eventually succumbed to prosperity. For poor people like Cookie and King Lu, the cow represents an opportunity, an opportunity to realize their meager claims on the American dream. The relationship between
Cookie and King Lu is precisely the relationship between craftsmanship and business acumen, the relationship between the mastery of difficult crafts and the entrepreneurial spirit required to use it. (King-Lu is not only the tactical brain of this operation, but also a recognized foreigner. Everyone ignores and underestimates this, which is very helpful). They are desperate figures with clear feelings, but they also lack cheap triumphalism or promotion. Their adventure is destined to not have a good ending, and not all participants will benefit equally.
There is also this brown cow with big eyes, named Yiwei, no less than Cookie and King Lu, showing low-key wit and cunning gravity. Some of the quietest and most touching exchanges in the movie took place between the cow and the biscuit, and they had a friendly and respectful conversation. Life is not particularly friendly to any of them.Although the relationship between Cookie and King Lu is complicated, it echoes their harmonious relationship. He and King Lu have a platonic but unconventional family arrangement, and he is eager to build his own incredible success story.
West
Toby Jones in the movie "The First Cow"
The American West has always been considered a land full of hope and fertility, but here, the West becomes one again A region full of uncertainty, danger and extreme scarcity, where the myth of the fate of the apocalypse is concealed by the cruel reality, and even ridiculed.
suggests that readers should probably not see "The First Cow" on an empty stomach (or there is no plan to order takeaway later). It can be said that every unfolding of the plot is an ingenious and pleasant surprise. It may be the most suspenseful and interesting display of Reichardt's strict attention to details-she is patient, truthful and true to the operation of the process and details. Extraordinary film charm. All of this makes "The First Cow" not only a fascinating underdog story, but also a wonderful display of the bravery and originality of American companies in action.
Reichardt’s film jokingly attacked these differences, but it’s too honest to pretend they don’t exist. The deep and lingering pain of "The First Cow" comes from the realization that even in a world that is still in the process of being formed, its cruel division has been portrayed so deeply. Almost everyone here has almost nothing, and a little bit of them—a pair of shiny boots, a silverware, a greasy cake, a rare friend—can be easily taken away.
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