"First Cow" is a small film in scope, in format (4:3), and in release - its really only available as video on demand. It's a relatively expensive film to watch on Amazon Prime, but still less expensive than buying two movie tickets to a theater, which is hard in the time of COVID. This is a buddy film set in the pre-territory Oregon wilderness of 1820, when the fur-trading Hudson's Bay Company was the government. The buddies are an itinerant cook named "Cookie" and a well-traveled Chinese man named "King-Lu." The two accidentally find each other during a trapping expedition. They part quickly and then rejoin shortly after that. King-Lu has a spectrum of entrepreneurial aspirations and Cookie dreams of opening a hotel or bakery. He's a trained baker's apprentice from Maryland. The two hatch a scheme to make money in the wilderness. The scheme involves making pastries using stolen milk from the only cow in the territory, the "first cow" of the film's title. As the only tasty fast food available in 1820 Oregon, the donuts sell like hotcakes. However, this movie's not really about the cow nor the resulting donuts. It's about two wanderers finding each other at the end of the world and become fast friends. No explosions. No superheroes. No gunfights. No muddled morality. Just a small, tight buddy film set in unfamiliar and interesting terrain with a fascinating and subtle look at the Northwest Native Americans as backdrop. If you enjoy film for film, this is one you want to see. Caveat: If you demand that a film fully connect all of the dots for you, this one won't satisfy. You'll need to noodle on some things.
Review of First Cow
