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Good morning Consumers. This is please consume, film newsletter that double butters your popcorn.

This is what we got for today 👇️

• Caleb gives us his thoughts on the best pest movie. Yeah, we get a little weird…

• Catch up on all the new trailers you missed from last week. and wow does Bradley Cooper bring it!

• We get the first look at Hayao Miyazaki‘s The Boy and The Heron.

Let’s get rolling…

Because of the upcoming release of Strays, the new cinematic opus from Lorde and Miller, starring Jamie Foxx, Will Ferrell, Will Forte, and Isla Fisher, it gave us the thought… What are the best cinematic pets?

Well, that’s what we are trying to figure out this week on Please Consume.

First Cow (2019)

Written by Caleb Madden

Today's contender for best pet movie is the 2019 Kelly Reichardt film First Cow.

If you have never heard of First Cow or even if you have, this may seem like a strange pick for Pets Week. And that’s exactly why it’s the perfect choice.

Slow Burn

First, we have to address the cow in the room. What is First Cow and why should we care?

First Cow is a quaint little movie about western expansion in America during the 1820’s and also capitalism. See, the perfect Pets Week movie!

What makes this movie so great is the way it slowly, and I mean slowly, reveals the central conflict of its plot. At the center of this slow reveal are some of the most amazing characters ever to grace the screen.

The Cutest Chef in the West

The magic in the first half of the movie is found in the character Cookie Figowitz (played by John Magaro) who is a cook for a rugged trapping outfit in the Oregon territory. From the first moment we see Cookie we notice that he is very out of place.

He’s a good cook, but he doesn’t look or act like the rest of the men he is surrounded by. The Oregon territory is full of angry, strong, brooding men who haven’t cried since birth. But Cookie just wants to walk around the woods, collect mushrooms, and watch the bugs crawl. And it is this out of place feeling that makes you fall in love with Cookie.

In a place full of people who don’t care about the beauty around them, Cookie is there for the beauty alone.

The Golden Cow

The second half of the magic comes in the form of the unnamed titular “first cow” (played by Eve the Cow). This cow comes into the territory as the first milk cow this far west in America. Eve is so perfect in this role. She is so graceful and elegant (not a joke) and she compliments Cookie’s character so well.

The beauty of the movie as a whole is found in the relationship between Cookie and this cow. They both see the world in the same way. While everyone around them is obsessed with controlling and subduing the earth, Cookie and the cow share these little quiet moments, in which Cookie talks about life and the world. And even though she can’t speak, the cow understands it.

These two out of place characters shine so brightly against the dim and dank surrounding that the viewer almost hopes they might run away together and open up a little restaurant. And this is why First Cow is a perfect pet movie.

Today’s Scene

Let’s take a look at this week’s new trailers…

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