Starting with her debut River of Grass (1994), Kelly Reichardt managed to capture, using her unique and particular style of patience, the underlying issues of the U.S. identity, using non-flamboyant narratives of the quotidian to explore the inner and physical travels of the characters, on this long, exhausting journey known as capitalism.Her latest film, First Cow, is a slow-pace buddy anti-western in which two loner misfits (John Magaro and Orion Lee) and a cow (Eve) cross each other’s paths searching for a better life through milk theft and entrepreneurship in 18th century Oregon. This simple plot idea is the starting point for Reichardt, who makes use of her magnificent abilities—such as the sublime handling of arid comedy, her particular and empathetic sensibility, and her power to convert the most austere narrative, cinematographic or physical gesture into a blunt expression—to turn this almost anecdotal story of two...
- 3/12/2020
- MUBI
‘First Cow’ Film Review: Kelly Reichardt Crafts Another Quiet Masterwork About the Pacific Northwest
Kelly Reichardt’s newest film, “First Cow,” calls to mind the work of 19th century landscape artists like Albert Bierstadt or Frederic Edwin Church, whose tactile depiction of each leaf and shard of sunlight is so engrossing that it’s a jolt when you finally notice a couple of tiny figures somewhere in the background, dwarfed by the sheer spectacle of nature.
Most of us have to visit major museums for this experience. But Reichardt paints her own breathtaking landscape and then zooms in on the miniscule humans just trying to survive amidst the greater workings of the world.
She is among the select few modern filmmakers who’ve earned the term “auteur,” and fans will find her personal signatures throughout the film. It’s the fifth of her seven features set in the Pacific Northwest, opens with a scene that brings to mind “Wendy and Lucy,” evokes “Old Joy...
Most of us have to visit major museums for this experience. But Reichardt paints her own breathtaking landscape and then zooms in on the miniscule humans just trying to survive amidst the greater workings of the world.
She is among the select few modern filmmakers who’ve earned the term “auteur,” and fans will find her personal signatures throughout the film. It’s the fifth of her seven features set in the Pacific Northwest, opens with a scene that brings to mind “Wendy and Lucy,” evokes “Old Joy...
- 3/4/2020
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
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