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First Cow
In the 1820s, a taciturn loner and skilled cook travels west to Oregon Territory, where he meets a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two team up on a dangerous scheme to steal milk from the wealthy landowner’s prized Jersey cow—the first, and only, in the territory.
2020 · Directed by Kelly Reichardt · 122 min · Drama · Western · Screenplay in the scene database · 28 frames
Tagline
A simple western about the origin of the American Dream.
Plot
In the present, a woman walking her dog on the riverside discovers two skeletons lying together, barely covered by the soil.
In 1820, Otis "Cookie" Figowitz is a quiet chef traveling in Oregon Country with a group of loud and aggressive fur trappers who harass him for not finding them enough food. One night, he comes across King-Lu, a Chinese immigrant on the run for killing a Russian man. Cookie allows Lu to hide in his tent for the night and watches him escape across the river the next day.
Cookie's group reaches a fort and Lu finds him there, babysitting an infant in the middle of a bar fight, and invites him to his house. Cookie moves in, and learns Lu is thinking about starting a farm, while Cookie talks about opening a bakery or hotel in San Francisco.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Raymond
- Cinematography: Christopher Blauvelt
- Edited by: Kelly Reichardt
- Music: William Tyler
- Production design: Anthony Gasparro
- Produced by: Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino
Cast
- John Magaro as Cookie
- Orion Lee as King-Lu
- Toby Jones as Chief Factor
- Ewen Bremner as Lloyd
- Scott Shepherd as Captain
- Gary Farmer as Totillicum
- Lily Gladstone as Chief Factor’s Wife
- Alia Shawkat as Woman with Dog
- Dylan Smith as Trapper Jack
- Ryan Findley as Trapper Dame
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: filmscience
- Budget: $2,000,000
- Box office: $101,068
- Themes: immigrant, based on novel or book, fur trapping, oregon, usa, 19th century, biscuits, buddy film, cow, western, cook
More by Kelly Reichardt
On this film
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