Lionsgate Press Release: First Cow (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

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PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
With a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, First Cow arrives on Blu-ray™ (plus DVD & Digital) September 8 from Lionsgate. From critically renowned director Kelly Reichardt, the film world premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August 2019 and screened to great acclaim at the New York Film Festival in September 2019 and the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020. First Cow stars John Magaro, Orion Lee, Golden Globe® and Primetime Emmy® nominee Toby Jones (2013, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, The Girl), Ewen Bremner, Primetime Emmy® nominee René Auberjonois (2001, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, TV’s “The Practice”) and Alia Shawkat. Including a bonus featurette, First Cow will be available on Blu-ray (plus DVD & Digital) for the suggested retail price of $24.99.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS
Two travelers, on the run from a band of vengeful hunters in the 1820s Northwest, dream of striking it rich — but their tenuous plan to make their fortune on the frontier comes to rely on the secret use of a wealthy businessman’s prized dairy cow. With their scheme landing somewhere between honest ingenuity and pure grift, renowned filmmaker Kelly Reichardt finds a graceful and deeply moving origin story of America in their unlikely friendship and fragile life at the margins.

BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

• “A Place in This World” Featurette

CAST
John Magaro The Big Short, Overlord, TV’s “Orange Is the New Black”
Orion Lee Skyfall, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, TV’s “Tyrant”
Toby Jones The Hunger Games, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,The Girl
Ewen Bremner Trainspotting, Wonder Woman, T2 Trainspotting
Rene Auberjonois M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud
Alia Shawkat TV’s “Arrested Development,” “Search Party,” “Living with Yourself”






PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production: 2019
Title Copyright: © 2019 A24 Distribution, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Type: Theatrical Release
Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language.
Genre: Drama
Closed-Captioned: N/A
Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH
Feature Run Time: 121 minutes
Blu-ray Format: 1080p High Definition, 16x9 1.33:1 Presentation
DVD Format: 16x9 1.33:1 Presentation
Blu-ray Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio™
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio

 

[Mike Frezon]

Peg and I were very curious about this film.

Well, truth be told, I was very curious about this film and Peg agreed to come along for the ride.

We spun up the Blu of First Cow last night not exactly sure what to expect. We had both seen the director's (Kelly Reichardt) Wendy & Lucy years ago and enjoyed it. And we both have a fondness for cows (Peg, after all, is from Vermont--where they have more cows than people).

What we got was an unlikely (and a bit quirky) buddy film. I was not familiar with much of the cast but found them all quite good in their roles. The big surprise was a small role featuring Rene Auberjonois. The thumbnail of the plot: two strangers meet in the forests of the Pacific Northwest in the 1820s and talk about achieving their dreams (which all require a certain amount of capital). I especially enjoyed the performance of Orion Lee as one of the two main characters.

While this feels like a "small" film in which not a lot happens and in which certain scenes feel like they take ages to play out (plodding), we never found ourselves distracted by other things and were curious about what was going to happen next. We even found ourselves afterward discussing subtexts that we are not sure were intended by the filmmakers.

Peg enjoyed it. She found the characters interesting. The story was a bit obvious (we question some of the choices made in the screenplay) but still satisfying. She finds it nice to have a movie that takes things at its own pace and let you experience the story without being overwhelmed by sex, violence, chase scenes, action sequences, etc. Peg says, "anytime the movie is character driven, they can even do something as mundane as milk a cow and make it interesting."

 

[JoeStemme]

FIRST COW -(2020) Not to put too fine a point on it, but Director Kelly Reichardt doesn't do plot driven movies. Still, FIRST COW is a feature where one has to be observant from the very first shot to the final one.

Reichardt's method of expression is to create a setting and fully immerse the viewer in it. Even though it's based on a novel by Jonathan Raymond (who also co-wrote the screenplay with the Director), FIRST COW isn't concerned with telling a tight knit tale, indeed the characters themselves seem to be exploring and creating their own “plot”. They're own history. It's 1820s Oregon and two drifters, Cookie (John Magaro) and King-Lu (Orion Lee) end up in a small town with little at their disposal but some vague hope to keep on moving until they find themselves. The title animal comes to town and the pair find some short-term opportunity to use it's precious milk. Toby Jones is the owner of the Cow - and the richest man in the hamlet.

As is Reichardt's manner, the pacing is deliberate, her camera mostly steady (the movie is framed in the old fashioned 1:37 ratio) and the editing stately. She seems averse to making even the most intense situation palpable to the audience (her previous film, CERTAIN WOMEN, probably had cinema's least dramatic hostage sequences). Reichardt depicts the situation, and the viewer must create their own drama. It doesn't always work (WENDY AND LUCY), but, here as in OLD JOY, there is a vividness in the depiction that makes it worthwhile, if still not entirely satisfying.

Reichardt is an interesting talent and FIRST COW is an immersive dive into the old frontier (there is talk of going south towards the promised land of California and its emerging cities) even if it never quite strikes deep enough.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Joe, you’re on a movie watching (and writing) roll!

I wanted to see this when it first opened and then covid happened, and it kinda slipped off my radar - thank you for putting it back on there.

 

[JoeStemme]

Joe, you’re on a movie watching (and writing) roll!

I wanted to see this when it first opened and then covid happened, and it kinda slipped off my radar - thank you for putting it back on there.

I'm playing catch up. I was literally going to see FIRST COW in a theater the very week theaters closed. It was a long time coming - almost a full calendar year

 

[titch]

This movie has just premiered in cinemas in Europe to terrific reviews. The trailer was included on the blu-ray of Minari, which I enjoyed last night. And then the new issue of Little White Lies arrived with a fantastic embroidered First Cow on the front! So now I finally ordered it!