“First Cow” Quotes, Notes and Clafoutis

Several reviews recommending “First Cow” (2019) as a fine film led me to rent it despite plentiful descriptions about lush scenery and cinematic techniques. Call me a Philistine, but the first just means meadows and woods to me and the second means nothing. I just want to watch a good story. For the most part, “First Cow” is a good story.

Your cook has retired for the night?

The film opens up in a present day setting where a girl and her dog come across a pair of skeletons in a shallow grave. We are then transported back to the Northwest Territory of the 1820s and meet Otis “Cookie” Figowitz. He is working as the cook for a trapping company, foraging for edibles for the unhappy trappers he is charged with feeding. Cookie comes across an exhausted, naked and hungry Chinese man named King-Lu, who is on the run from Russians after killing one of their friends. Cookie feeds, clothes and hides King-Lu in his shack. They part ways but meet up later in a saloon after Cookie’s gig is over.

The Chief Factor wants milk in his tea, like a proper English gentleman

This is just about the time that Chief Factor, the settlement’s head honcho, imports a cow from California. It was supposed to be a male and female cow and a calf, but only the female cow made it and she’s the talk of the town. One fellow in the saloon says: “This ain’t a place for cows. God would have put cows here if it was.” Another retorts: “Ah! Then it’s no place for white men either, huh?”

It’s the getting started that’s the puzzle ~ King-Lu

The saloon empties out to watch a fight outside and King-Lu and Cookie rekindle their relationship. It’s slow going for a while after this, as we become better acquainted with the personalities of these two men. We already knew that Cookie is a gentle soul from scenes with the trappers. He is also a dreamer who would like to open a hotel and a bakery but has no idea how to go about accomplishing that. King-Lu possesses the ambition and drive that Cookie lacks, but believes there is “no way for a poor man to start” without capital, a miracle or a crime.

Can cows give milk at night? ~ King-Lu

One evening, Cookie tells King-Lu that he saw the famous cow out grazing not far from Chief Factor’s house. Cookie would love to whisk some of that cow’s milk into some flour, sugar and baking soda. He could make cookies, scones and best of all, buttermilk biscuits. A plan to get that milk at night is born.

“Sorry about your husband. I heard he didn’t make it all the way. And your calf… it’s terrible thing. Terrible.” ~ Cookie Figowitz

Then it is carried out with King-Lu climbing up a tree to keep watch. Cookie talks gently to the cow and she gives him all the milk he needs, leaving little for Chief Factor. When King-Lu eats his first biscuit, he believes they are good enough to sell for more than a pickle. Cookie is reluctant but to market they go with their second batch of biscuits. They sell out in no time with people bidding the price up just to get their hands on “a little taste of home.”

I taste London in this cake. A bakery I once knew in South Kensington ~ Chief Factor

Business is thriving although Cookie and King-Lu know they can’t keep this up forever. That becomes even more clear when Chief Factor sends word that he wants to buy a biscuit. King-Lu watches him cautiously for the slightest sign that the biscuit makes Chief Factor think “milk”. Instead, Chief Factor returns and asks Cookie to make him a clafoutis for a small group he will be entertaining in a week, which includes Captain Ruby. Ruby likes to make cracks about “the savagery of life on the frontier” and Chief Factor would pay handsomely to humiliate him.

What’s in a clafoutis anyway?

The whole thing kind of fell apart for me after this. When someone with Chief Factor’s resources hires you to make a blueberry clafoutis, it seems to me that you could and would insist that this person supply ALL the ingredients, including the use of his spiffy kitchen. Chief Factor would have readily agreed in his quest to humiliate Captain Ruby. This was their chance to milk the cow honestly and surely, an honest arrangement would have followed. Cookie was a very talented baker and it would have been easy for him to alter something in the biscuit recipe to make it even better with honest milk, preserving the “Chinese secret” deception.

Perhaps, I thought, Cookie and King-Lu considered that avenue but making their own dreams come true was more important to them. Perhaps they could foresee themselves forever trapped in an arrangement with Chief Factor, with no hope of independence.

I wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone who doesn’t like slow development, or would at least say, “don’t watch it when you’re tired.” (My daughter fell asleep about 40 minutes in). However, I liked it and especially got a kick out of King-Lu’s line when he and Cookie were discussing the clafoutis: “How much should we charge?” That’s because I know too many people who would have responded: “Who’s ‘we’? I’m doing all the work here, pal.”

Selected Cast of “First Cow”
John Magaro – Cookie
Orion Lee – King-Lu
Evie – The Cow
Toby Jones – Chief Factor
Scott Shepherd – Captain Ruby