Original title: First Cow · Kelly Reichardt · USA · 2019 · Script: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt · Performers: John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones…
Original title: Rice · Tsai Ming-liang · Taiwan · 2020 · Script: Tsai Ming-liang · Upvoted by: What a Houngheuangsy, Lee Kang-sheng…
We have already commented many times in this space how the western has become one of the most interesting genres in contemporary North American cinema.. When we thought it was an old-fashioned model, In recent decades it has returned with renewed impetus. And while it is true that the western (or perhaps it would be more correct to talk about the portrait of the conquest of North American territory) has lost the popular favor that it had in other times in its different versions (Literature was also very prodigal in this area.), In regards to a certain auteur cinema, it has proven to be a very fertile field for all types of experiments.. Now that it has lost the attention of the general public, he western It is presented as a space of great formal and argumentative freedom.
First Cow tells the story of a modest cook nicknamed Cookie (cookie), who accompanies a group of fur trappers through the still unknown lands of the state of Oregon. We are at the beginning of the 19th century and survival in this wild space focuses on the most basic. While some and others look for how to get rich in this new nation of promises, life involves finding something to eat every day. Sulfur cookie, So, the aggressive reaction of some hardened men in a radically hostile landscape. Time after, Cookie arrives at a modest settlement looking for work.. There he will meet King-Lu, a man of Chinese origin whom he helped escape from a group of Russians who were trying to kill him. The debt contracted by King-Lu unites the destiny of both characters. Together in hopelessness and lack of future, Cookie and her new friend hatch a plan. Coinciding with the arrival of the chef, A rich landowner has brought to his farm the first cow that has ever set foot in this territory.. without knowing it, Cookie and her friend will extract some milk from the animal to make some fritters that will soon become a sensation among the residents of an area where there are so many needs that a small luxury like this seems like an eccentricity.. But deception will have its consequences.
If we look exclusively at the argument, First Cow It is presented to us as an adventure with all the codes of the genre. So, We find ourselves with a group of individuals surrounded in a land far removed from civilization where justice does not exist and men must resolve their conflicts with no help other than the resources they have available.. In this sense, Coexistence is settled according to the law of the strongest. In one of the most significant sequences of the film, Cookie and King-Lu are successfully selling their fritters. Since production is limited to the scarcity of raw materials, there are no fritters for everyone. in line, willing to collect his share, there is a young man. There's only one donut left, but, when the young man gets his turn, another man steps forward and pushes him aside. The boy, annoying, does not protest. He knows that his life is at stake.
However, in the midst of this adverse environment, the best of ourselves also emerges. Like in John Ford's westerns, director Kelly Reichardt's film is a hymn to friendship (male). Reichardt astutely manages the expectations created by the viewer. In a land without rules, Greed and distrust become the only law. When problems arise, there is no room for compassion. It's about you or the other. That context, very well presented in the first part of the tape, will direct our gaze allowing Reichardt to hide his best cards. Cookie and King-Lu will find their greatest ally in the solidarity created between them.. In the midst of adversity, They will have no choice but to lean on each other..
But this story cannot be perceived in all its aspects if we do not pay attention to the ways in which Kelly Reichardt is interlocking the architecture of her proposal.. Reichardt questions the conventional structure of the genre, subordinated to the development of the argument, and let time pass much more slowly than is usual in this type of productions where action prevails. It's Cookie Look Time (what, we suppose, It is the same as the author's). Time to observe and delight in an environment that speaks to us in every small detail. Thus, and after a brief introduction, The film begins with Cookie searching for food in the forest for the crew he is working for as a cook.. In his clumsy crawl through the bushes (he is not a hunter), you will only find a handful of mushrooms. But, while searching, mira, and when he looks he discovers us and describes us. In that calm look, innocent, naive, of Cookie, we will find the clues that we must follow.
So, What Kelly Reichardt is telling us is that, under the myth of conquest, the true roots of his country are hidden. Roots that sink into the depredation of the territory (the forests, the rivers, the fauna) y, above all, on class differences. For King-Lu, a time of opportunity opens in a new land. But, against what it may seem, the foundations of society are already planted. There are some who have a lot and others who have nothing or very little.. In one of the sequences of the film, The rich landowner discusses with a friend the convenience of physical punishment as a measure to maintain order and law in his community.. behind his back, through the window of the large manor house in which he lives, We see Cookie and King-Lu arrive, who ignore what is happening. What will be your destiny?
These games between substance and form take a giant leap in the latest work by director of Malaysian origin Tsai Ming-Liang. In Days, Talking about plot becomes an even more complicated exercise.. On the one hand, we have what looks like a businessman suffering from severe neck pain. The man contracts an acupuncture treatment, but the pain doesn't seem to subside. Stayed in a hotel, request the services of a masseuse. So, in another part of the city, A young man who lives in a modest home prepares the food that, after cooking it, will sell later in a market. The young man also makes a living doing massages at home. The relationship between the two men soon reveals itself to be more than just a business agreement..
Like in the Kelly Reichardt film, Days It is a work that overcomes conventions to offer us a proposal that puts its expectations in the viewer's eyes.. Here it is not so much about attending to a series of actions that have a series of consequences that allow us to draw conclusions.. What it is about is looking carefully at what, generously, They show us each of the images on the screen. Once the spectator lends himself to this game, begins to connect with what underlies and transcends the mere description of what is shown and dedicates itself to establishing relationships. Seran, again, the small details that guide us, suggesting, points of support or link with the emotions that are sought to be exposed.
Days starts with a beautiful still shot. in the box, a man (Kang, according to production notes), look through the window. Out, abroad, it's raining. Apparently, nothing else happens. But this is not true. It is enough to pay attention to the bearing of that man, to the shadow of regret that seems to cross his gaze to understand that something may be happening. While, the sound of rain, the apparent calm (o restlessness, depending on how you look at it) that transmits its rattling on the glass of that window, inspires our feelings and encourages us to speculate.. another image: a lush forest. It gets dark and the rain cleanses the atmosphere. After, a young man cleans the food with a hose squatting on the floor of his house. Again, it seems like nothing is happening, but this new image accumulates a lot of information. It tells us about the social condition of the young man. He tells us about the patience and meticulousness required by the task he is doing..
And so, us, as spectators, we are adding. And it is that Days It is a work whose development is based on the addition of elements. Tsai Ming-Liang relies on a subtle network of textures (the rain, the forest, the floor of a bathroom, the bottom of the city) with which it will surround a spectator who, in this case, It can't be just any spectator.. To enter this world, a special eye is necessary, sensible, that does not look with indifference at a landscape that, despite the physical distance, in our case, and cultural differences, we can recognize very easily. Textures that, as we said, provoke sensations (melancholia, poverty, fatigue, disorientation) what, in turn, they push us towards something that may resemble a kind of outcome. Textures that are woven, above all, with the light. In one of the most beautiful shots of this film, Kang is resting in his hotel room, sitting in a comfortable chair. The evening light enters obliquely through the window. The man stands aside, almost in darkness, while, marking a contrast, a beam of sun draws one of the bedroom tables, building shapes. The painting is deeply evocative..
and the bodies. Days es, above all, a film about bodies. Bodies that seek and are found, and in the meeting everything makes sense. In this regard, The massage sequence is overwhelmingly sensitive.. Ming-Liang pampers those bodies as if they were pieces of porcelain. We feel the touch of your skin, muscle tone and tension, and we delight in the simplicity and, at the same time, elegance of each movement of the characters. To this we must add the honesty of faces and looks that hypnotize us.. In this sense, It is worth highlighting the work of a brilliant cast composed of Lee Kang-Sheng, one of the director's favorite actors, interpreting Kang, and Anong Houngheuangsy que, as happened years ago with Kang-Sheng himself, was found on the street by the Malaysian director and added to the project. This anonymous origin of the actors is indelibly imprinted in every frame of the film., transmitting a truth rarely achieved in cinema.
In Days two men who do not know each other meet in a small hotel room. around you, a city that crushes them against the background. Solos, isolated from the outside, of the noise, They again find someone else to lean on.. In the need not to feel alone, friendship arises, maybe love. One of the most beautiful films that have been seen on a movie screen in recent times. GERARDO LEON
