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Cow

Cow

2021

Andrea Arnold

Documentary

6.6

285

Documentary A close-up portrait of the daily lives of two cows.

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"The director details the life of dairy cows with unflinching and empathetic precision (...) There is something very heartfelt and committed about Andrea Arnold’s film: a poignancy and intimacy (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"Andrea Arnold generates empathy for animals better than Disney ever could (...) The experience settles into such an absorbing rhythm that its abrupt finale hits hard"	POS
United States	Elena Lazic The Playlist	"A seemingly simple film that, in fact, brings up interesting and difficult questions regarding the limits between anthropomorphism on-screen and animal rights — or the lack thereof."	POS
United Kingdom	Ed Potton The Times	"Two products of lockdown — a renewed love of animals and a more reflective view of life — come together in the new documentary by Andrea Arnold (...) Quite haunting (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Dave Calhoun Time Out	"There’s nothing cloying or corny about the way Arnold depicts these beasts. What she gives us is a straightforward slice of a cow’s relentless life (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Guy Lodge Variety	"A filmmaker infectiously attuned to movement, Arnold finds a horrible, hypnotic rhythm in these gruelingly looped procedures"	POS
United States	Jason Gorber rogerebert.com	"A numbingly redundant structure and tedious running time (...) While 'Cow' may indeed convert a few to veganism by opening their eyes, others will justifiably snore their way through Arnold’s foray into non-fiction"	NEG
United States	Jason Solomons The Wrap	"It’s certainly not a crowd pleaser, but there is remarkable film craft on display, plenty of moments of wonder and beauty, some heart-melting tenderness and a finale to match 'The Irishman'"	POS
United Kingdom	Beth Webb Empire	"An immersive and impassioned documentary from one of Britain's most formidable filmmakers, which may be singular in its perspective but is as powerful to watch as it is painful (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Intriguing, sometimes inscrutable, ultimately despondent (...) the film is open to multiple interpretations, although it seems likely Arnold has found in Luma her latest wild creature longing to be free."	POS
United States	Diego Semerene Slant	"Instead of crafting a vegan sermon, the film veers toward the pleasures of the lingering camera gaze, whether fixed or moving, interested in one thing and one thing alone: a cow's face, which stares back at the lens"	POS
United States	Anna Smith Deadline	"This can definitely be taken as a pro-vegan statement (...) 'Cow' may be slow moving, but it gives patient audiences plenty to chew on"	POS
United Kingdom	Charlotte O'Sullivan London Evening Standard	"This tale of a bovine life is both brutal and beautiful (...) It's only mid-January, but I doubt any film in 2022 will end on a more shocking or life-changing note (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter	"Arnold plunges us straight into her subject's point-of-view and never leaves it (...) For a brief, divine moment, 'Cow' shows us what a cow's life could be, were we not there"	POS
United States	Ed Frankl The Film Stage	"Despite a lo-fi, handheld-camera cragginess, it still has something of the lyricism that marks so much of her work"	NEU
Canada	Peter Martin Screen Anarchy	"Andrea Arnold brilliantly documents the life of a milk cow (...) We are gently pulled into [the cow's] life and what it means to be a soul that is born and bred to serve the needs of others"	POS
Ireland	Donald Clarke Irish Times	"There are implicit arguments here about the monetisation of motherhood and about the human capacity to shut out unattractive truths"	POS
	Marta Bałaga Cineuropa	"After some initial resistance, it’s all very engaging. Arnold uses the Gunda approach, one could say, but this time, there is no black-and-white cinematography to hide behind"	POS

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