The Guardian May 31, 2021 A fable of land and freedom that serves as an up-close-and-personal portrait of friendship and a wider snapshot of America, rooted in the rich...
The deep, lingering ache of "First Cow" comes from the realization that, even in a world still in the process of being formed, its cruel...
Some itchy viewers probably (and understandably) won’t make it past the first 20 minutes. But if they stay, the deliberate paces of...
It’s a McCabe & Mrs Miller with cows, and there can be no higher praise than that.
Daily Telegraph February 22, 2020 [A] stealthy, resonant, and finally riveting tale…
Filmspotting March 13, 2020 There’s an element of parable… Reichardt is critically but not polemically saying something about the nature of capitalism and the so-called...
First Cow is archetypal Kelly Reichardt, slow, small and perfectly formed, elevated by stellar but understated performances from John Magaro and Or...
You’ll need to slow your breathing to sync up, or more likely, down with the movie’s tempo, but Reichardt rewards your patience with&nb...
First Cow is a magnificent yet modest work of tenderness.
New York Times March 4, 2020 A parable of economics and politics, with shrewd insights into the workings of supply and demand, scarcity and scale and other puzzles of the marke...
Reichardt specializes in pared-down narratives, sometimes stripping away so much that boredom sets in. "First Cow" may be lean, but it offers...
I’ve said this before about Reichardt’s films, and for whatever reason I feel the need to say it again. "First Cow" will stri...
Reichardt delivers an expertly lush, languid tale about friendship, class, and yes, a very handsome cow…
This haunting movie transports you to another world – and redefines home.
It’s a wonderfully neat concept, and Reichhart, often labelled a minimalist, has never been more assured as a storyteller.
Globe and Mail March 9, 2020 You hold your breath and convince yourself that the inevitable isn’t arriving. And all Reichardt offers to comfort you is a remarkable q...
New Statesman May 19, 2021 Watching their friendship crackle into life is one of the film’s deepest pleasures. Conversation flows so casually that it feels more sighed...
Finds a warm balance between tension and the pleasure of just watching two kindred types find each other and make a life for themselves in a d...
Never has a film about two losers and the platonic love they have for each other felt more moving or more engaging. Simply wonderful.
Rolling Stone March 6, 2020 Kelly Reichardt’s manifest-destiny epic in D minor…gives you the feeling that you’ve just witnessed a major work from a great Amer...
A Western, First Cow is sensual, bleak and meticulously authentic, reminiscent of McCabe & Mrs Miller, as well as Barry Lyndon.
Irish Times July 23, 2021 Reichardt works in delicate movements as a storyteller. Magaro and Lee’s wonderful chemistry keeps perfectly in step with the filmmaker.
This is a bold, perceptive portrait of early America that deserves to be held up as a new standard of historical filmmaking.
Reichardt, also the co-writer, delivers a patient and earnest parable about environmentalism, American destiny and the value of friendship.
First Cow is overburdened by that preamble, which suffuses the film with a feeling of inevitability but not narrative tension, and the plot is...
While not a lot happens in First Cow by the standards of most two-hour narrative films, and some may wish for a less open-ended conclusio...
RogerEbert.com March 6, 2020 It is somehow both brutal and pastoral, peaceful and laced through with the inevitability of disaster and death.
The Guardian February 22, 2020 Kelly Reichardt gives us a terrifically tough and sinewy tale of the old west, shaped by the brutally implacable market forces of capitalism.
What it does right, it does wonderfully.
Boston Globe March 11, 2020 "First Cow" is as confident and organic as storytelling gets – as rough-edged as it is in style, it’s absurdly rich in ripple effect.
"First Cow" is a wonderfully unhurried film, which may be why it is so captivating. It allows viewers to sink in and absorb the story and...
If only every film could achieve the sublime tenderness of First Cow.
A resonant, funny and quite moving shaggy cow story.
Little White Lies February 22, 2020 With First Cow, Kelly Reichardt, America’s foremost chronicler of small stories rooted in meticulously-crafted geographical expanses, has del...
indieWire September 3, 2019 King-Lu and Cookie need each other…and First Cow commiserates with their journey in a kind-hearted fashion that allows the movie to resonate w...
Chicago Reader March 13, 2020 First Cow is especially accomplished in its aesthetic…
Some movies feel dead from the first shot, with or without star power, spectacular vistas or the false energy of hurtling pace. First Cow is vividl...
Slant Magazine October 6, 2019 The sense of a nascent community rising up out of the primordial muck is palpable, so it’s unfortunate that John Magaro and Orion Lee&rs...
While it fits perfectly into the larger framework of Reichardt’s filmography, it also stands alone in rare, iconoclastic beauty.
film.avclub.com February 5, 2021 Just don’t mistake the lightness of step for a softness of philosophy.
TIME Magazine February 5, 2021 A picture that’s both tranquil and dazzling, two qualities that should be at odds with one another yet somehow bloom in tandem under Reichard...
The Atlantic February 5, 2021 It’s a small, understated movie, but it’s also one of the best of the year so far.
Vanity Fair March 6, 2020 Leave it to [Kelly] Reichardt, one of cinema’s great excavators… to take what history usually relegates to side-stories, footnotes, or long-f...
Reichardt films the workingmen’s friendship and their frustrated strivings sympathetically, and observes with dismay the official’s dom...
812filmreviews October 4, 2019 A hypnotic yet simple extrapolation of the early-American frontier… Reichardt’s First Cow [is] as sweet as Cookie’s oily cakes.
A small story [that] also inspires awe.
Reichardt has a way of drawing you into her world, where traditional movie tropes have no place and you’re not always sure where she&rsq...
