An "oily cake" is the big best seller in a dirty settlement in the American Northwest around the middle of the 19th century.
Actually, the people who trade in beaver fur here, a long way from civilization, are not used to culinary delights.
When the trained baker Otis Figowitz, known as Cookie, shows up with his "oily cakes", even rough fellows are scrambling about it and paying high prices for a few bites of sweets.
Die Backwaren haben ein Geheimnis: sie enthalten Milch. Und es gibt im ganzen Territorium nur eine Kuh. Sie gehört dem wichtigsten Mann in der Gegend, genannt Chief Factor. Er hat das kostbare Tier aus San Francisco in eine Gegend bringen lassen, in der die Geschichte noch nicht begonnen hat: „History isn’t here yet.“ Mit diesem Satz aus Kelly Reichardts Film „First Cow“ wird deutlich, dass die bedeutende Independent-Regisseurin einmal mehr eine Geschichte von den Anfängen der menschlichen Gesellschaft in Amerika erzählt. Im vergangenen Sommer, in dem in Amerika der ganze Westen von Flammen bedroht schien, war Reichardt, die in New York und Oregon lebt, so etwas wie die amerikanische Filmemacherin der Stunde. Denn Portland war auch eine der Städte, in denen sich nach dem Tod von George Floyd und den darauffolgenden Protesten gegen Rassismus eine besonders aktive Gegenkultur manifestierte. Es ist eine Kultur, zu der Reichardt, wiewohl in Florida geboren, immer schon intensive Beziehungen unterhalten hat. Eine der für diese Beziehungen nötigen Verbindungspersonen ist der Autor Jon Raymond, geboren in Lake Grove, Oregon. Er ist für die Karriere von Reichardt als einer der wichtigsten unabhängigen amerikanischen Filmemacherinnen von kaum zu überschätzender Bedeutung.
“First Cow” is based on his most ambitious novel to date, “The Half-Life”, from which the film only takes up one episode. With Raymond, two times and two places are intertwined: the early 19th and the late 20th centuries; the American West and China. The novel is a large-scale parallel montage in which both the trade relations of the pioneering era and the alternative milieus after 1968 are examined. Reichardt, on the other hand, focuses on an episode and a conflict: Cookie and his partner King-Lu (an early Sino-American) secretly milk the “first cow” every evening, so they steal the milk. And their original accumulation is constantly threatened by discovery. You would like to go to San Francisco with the money you have earned,for the time being, however, use the illegal business model a little. This brings a suspense into play, which then works in a funny way - with a "noble" tea party.
Motive relationships
If you look back on Reichardt's previous career from “First Cow”, you will already see clear parallels or motivic affinities in the first film (after the early “River of Grass”, 1994, which occupies a special position): “Old Joy” (2006, with musician Will Oldham in one of the leading roles) tells of two men who hike from Portland to mineral springs in the Oregon forests. Actually, not much is happening, but from the conversations and from the radio broadcasts placed in significant positions while driving, a kind of micro-history of the American left can be recognized. Their hopes often included connections with pre-colonial, non-economized America, for which the mineral springs are a clear symbol. Oregon is also special in this context,because the state was always too far west to play a major role in the country's western mythology. The 33rd state is still to some extent undeveloped territory. The ideological charge of certain notions of freedom associated with the natural reserves in Oregon became apparent in 2016 when right-wing extremists occupied the administration of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They reclaimed the reserve for their ambitions for a "liberation" from the Washington government.when right-wing extremists occupied the administration of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They reclaimed the reserve for their ambitions for a "liberation" from the Washington government.when right-wing extremists occupied the administration of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They reclaimed the reserve for their ambitions for a "liberation" from the Washington government.