Modern master Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind, Meek’s Cutoff) returns to the Pacific Northwest in this rich and resonant tale of an unlikely friendship on the American frontier. One night, while foraging along the riverbank, softly spoken cook Otis “Cookie” Figowitz (John Magaro) encounters King-Lu (Orion Lee) crouching in the underbrush, cold and vulnerable. On the run, King-Lu finds a much-needed friend in the gentle-hearted Cookie, who conceals him back at camp. With Cookie’s culinary prowess, and King-Lu’s sharp business sense, the two hatch a get-rich scheme, selling doughnut-like "oily cakes" at the local market. The catch? The milk needed for the recipe must be secretly pilfered from the only cow in town, which belongs to wealthy landowner Chief Factor (Toby Jones). A film of both mounting tension and slow rhythms, First Cow is another impeccably crafted wonder from Reichardt.

Drawing the miraculous from the quotidian is one of the things Reichardt does best and in First Cow her powers have perhaps never been stronger: you will watch a cow being milked, and it will move you. From simple scenarios unfold moments of melancholy and grace, played out with tenderness in a fast vanishing world of harsh beauty— Reichardt has achieved the rarest of balanced Westerns, a split-diopter focus on the vast landscape and the vulnerable human relationships within it.