First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)

[Philip J. Fry]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSxh00sUBU 9g96gDWVgoXrHwuVDlGJRrgGv6nOUN 6fodYY_EOkB

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRUWVT87mt8

IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9231040/) / wiki (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Cow) / RT (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/first_cow) / Metacritic (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/first-cow)

Official website (https://a24films.com/films/first-cow)

[Ezee E]

Forgot if I made a thread for this when I saw it in Telluride.

I was the last one allowed in, which was pretty cool.

[Philip J. Fry]

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[Peng]

Almost feels like Reichardt's "greatest hits" (in the best way), given how many of her thematic and stylistic predilections are there but shaped into a fresh, at times unexpected direction -- another angle of American frontier's hardship (Meek's Cutoff); the story of outcasts trying to get by in a grinding, capitalist economy (Wendy and Lucy); sensitive, soulful exploration of male friendship (Old Joy); and even her understated rhythm applying effectively on genre stakes (the caper here to Night Moves' bombing plan).

That last aspect gets a tad suspensefully excruciating for me, since it comes after an hour of gently establishing the two men's rich, aching bond and detailing their emerging venture, lending each near-miss and actual mistake some real emotional impact. And it makes that final shot of pure grace, in which the devastating context is given very early on, become Reichardt's best, most beautiful ending ever. 8.5/10

[Mal]

Renting it tuesday

[Stay Puft]

I've posted a lot about Chinese blockbusters over the years and how I always found it strange that their numerous historical epics will always jump into the present day at the end, in some cases even for seemingly arbitrary reasons that have nothing to do with story, character, theme... though sometimes obviously for state mandated reasons, e.g. to tell audiences that the bad guys are dead and the good guys won, to fulfill obligations to the censorship board. In a larger sense, this tendency to place audiences back into the present I think is a kind of national narrative, to orient audiences through that history to the present success of the state, a kind of accumulation of cultural progress. I had First Cow spoiled for me a long time ago, or at least I thought I did, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Kelly Reichardt's film operate with the same kind of logic but in reverse. The film starts in the present, with the literal unearthing of the historical narrative that is to follow, and what makes this interesting is that Reichardt is inviting audiences to compare present and past more directly, upfront, to re-orient audiences through the narratives of American history, i.e. to re-contextualize dominant "myths" of progress and success with the violence and destruction they necessarily hide. It's a rich and nuanced text that explores the role of things like capital (cattle), or gender roles (masculinity specifically), in the history of these narratives, and how they've shaped the present. Peng put it best by calling it a "greatest hits" of Reichardt's films, a summation of many of the themes she has explored in her previous work, but done in a way here that captures how all of these forces helped shape America, and the narrative of America, in a way her previous films now seem to have deliberately been building towards. Not really, of course, but that's how it feels: I think this may very well be her greatest work to date, and that ending is indeed a knockout. It took me a few minutes to catch my breath and collect myself. This is one of the most gorgeous, most beautiful films I've seen in American independent cinema in recent years, and certainly one of the most incisive, most thoughtful.

It's now between this and Albert Serra's film as my #1 for the year.