Though Kelly Reichardt‘s films have been screened for special programs and festivals in Japan and are available online through streaming service U-Next, none have ever received a proper theatrical release until now, when we get her two most recent features on the same day. First Cow, originally released in 2019, is a period film she wrote with Jonathan Raymond, who also wrote the novel on which it was based. Its plot is as disarmingly simple as its title, though it describes the peculiar free market ethos that made America what it is in a rather complicated way. Set in the Oregon territory in the 1820s, the story centers on a friendship between two men, a white cook who hopes to make a new life on the west coast and a Chinese immigrant who has traveled the world but sees America as a place where he can “take history on my own terms.” It’s obvious from the start that both men are naive in their approach to the challenge of the frontier, but their relationship is so good-natured and encouraging that you want them to succeed at any cost.

The white man, Cookie (John Magaro), has made it this far providing meals for a rough crew of fur trappers who treat him like shit, while the Chinese man, King-Lu (Orion Lee), is first seen fleeing from some Russians who want to kill him. Recognizing what they have in common vis-a-vis the other outcasts that have come to this lawless land, they hookup at a trading outpost and start living together in King-Lu’s rustic shack, almost as if they were a married couple. King-Lu means to make it to San Francisco to start a business and hits on Cookie’s skills as a baker to realize his dream, but their experiment in retail is fraught with danger. In order to raise capital, Cookie makes sweet biscuits that they sell at the outpost, but the biscuits require milk, which they steal from the only cow within a week’s ride and it belongs to the post’s Chief Factor (Toby Jones), a stuck-up Englishman who thinks nothing of beating or even killing employees if it will keep other employees in line. The genius of the plot is that the biscuits are a huge hit, especially with the Chief Factor, which means the pair are under pressure to produce more and thus have to continue milking the sole cow for all she’s worth.

What ensues is predictable and to a certain extent anti-climactic, as Reichardt’s chosen storytelling aesthetic eschews surprises for the sake of surprise. If anything, she relies too much on atmosphere and setting to give her themes substance, decisions that undermine First Cow‘s basic appeal as a black comedy. Most of the points she wants to make about the socioeconomic unfairness inherent in the American experiment are sideshows to the main action, which is only thrilling in very short instances. There’s something missing here that’s difficult to pinpoint, but she and Raymond might have been better off allowing the story to follow her two protagonists to the Bay Area. Though it would have been a completely different movie, it also would have been more interesting. 

Reichart’s latest film, Showing Up, is more compelling—funnier, sadder, even more enraging in its indictment of the way Americans take for granted their own selfishness. Michelle Williams, who could be called Reichardt’s muse, plays Lizzie, a sculptor who can’t quite juggle the everyday exigencies of life with the requirements that produce good art. And while struggle is the default theme of any story about an artist, here the focus on matters like paying rent, feeding one’s cat, and fulfilling the responsibilities of a drag job tend to take up more screen time simply because they take up most of Lizzie’s time. All the various conflicts in the story stem from Lizzie’s desperate rush to complete the work for an upcoming exhibition, which is treated as being less of a big deal than the upcoming exhibitions of her haughty landlord, Jo (Hong Chau), also an artist who seems to have far better representation. This difference in access to patrons and even an audience is exacerbated by Jo’s cavalier attitude toward her tenants. Lizzie can’t seem to get Jo to take her pleas to fix her water heater seriously (forcing her to shower at the university where she works as an office factotum) and also ends up taking care of a wounded pigeon that Jo fobs off on her as if Lizzie were her personal assistant. On top of that, she has to address family issues that seem trivial on the surface but point to long-simmering difficulties that have always threatened to boil over into something more serious, like her layabout brother (Magaro again) who appears to have a bipolar condition, and parents (Judd Hirsch, Maryann Plunkett) whose long-time separation has turned Lizzie into a frazzled go-between. Even Lizzie’s mischievous orange tabby demands too much of her emotional capital. 

Though lighter in tone and effect than First Cow, Showing Up has more important things to say about what we prioritize. It’s set in the here and now, which makes it easier for audiences to enter its rarefied world, but its deceptively loose structure also renders the circumstances it presents more dramatic. Similarly, the scenes that show Lizzie at work vivify a notion of the creative life that makes it appealing and admirable in new ways. Sculptors may not have more fun, but I would love to have a friend like Lizzie.

Both films open Dec. 22 in Tokyo; First Cow at Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho (03-6259-8608), Shinjuku Musashinokan (03-3354-5670), Human Trust Cinema Shibuya (03-5468-5551); Showing Up at Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho (03-6259-8608), Human Trust Cinema Shibuya (03-5468-5551).

First Cow home page in Japanese

Showing Up home page in Japanese

First Cow photo (c) 2019 A24 Distribution LLC

Showing Up photo (c) 2022 Crazed Glaze LLC