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Cow

Play trailer 1:35 Poster for Cow Released Apr 8, 2022 1h 33m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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96% Tomatometer 103 Reviews 72% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Academy Award-winner Andrea Arnold returns with an intimate portrait of one dairy cow's life. The film highlights the beauty and challenges cows face, and their great service to us all.
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Cow

Cow

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Critics Consensus

A stark and emotionally resonant look at the life of a farm animal, Cow simply yet insistently asks the viewer to reconsider their relationship with their food.

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Critics Reviews

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Christina Newland iNews.co.uk The result is heartwrenching. Rated: 4/5 Sep 19, 2024 Full Review Larushka Ivan-Zadeh Metro Newspaper (UK) The British auteur Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) turns to documentary with this powerful, cow’s eye view of the dairy industry. You may never look a pint of milk in the face again. Dec 27, 2022 Full Review Kathleen Sachs Chicago Reader The documentary from British writer-director Andrea Arnold conveys something similar to the splendor that radiates from the best of silent cinema. Apr 9, 2022 Full Review William Stottor Loud and Clear Reviews In her first documentary feature Cow, Andrea Arnold concocts a deeply profound and strikingly resonant film about a mother’s forced separation from her child. Rated: 4/5 Jul 18, 2024 Full Review Savina Petkova A Good Movie To Watch Cow opens up the dialogue about the on-screen role of animals beyond the call for activism. In it, the protagonists dictate the camera movements and positions just as any other human subject would. Rated: 8/10 Oct 29, 2023 Full Review Greg Carlson Vague Visages Arnold’s assembly stops short of making any condemnation of the human masters who guide Luma through her paces, but Cow surely raises age-old questions about the relationship between people and “their” animals. May 9, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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sofie m The ending was heartbreaking. The entire film was incredibly well done and will forever change the way I consume dairy products. No words, just moos and the unfortunate truth about the dairy industry. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/03/24 Full Review Laurie M Excellent portrait of the lives of dairy cattle. Having spent over a decade as a vet tech I can easily understand and relate to every moment in this wonderful documentary. It would have been better narrated, even just a little bit, especially for people that have no idea of what's going on and why. Seems like a very well run dairy. All the caregivers are gentle and patient. There was absolutely NO CRUELTY involved and all the cows are well cared for even to the end. I recommend everyone watch this and ask someone who knows questions when you don't understand why something is being done. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/01/24 Full Review Donnation G A film that will test you. It shows the miserable life of a Cow on a dairy farm, which is a life that is short, painful, and full of sorrow. The film is not an easy watch and it isn't supposed to be. The filmmaker set out to show what these lovely animals go through just so we can have their milk. It's ugly, very sad, and it will stick with you. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/24 Full Review Alec B The lack of any talking heads or voice over narration is the biggest plus here as it makes the ending all the more shocking. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/24 Full Review Di D should be shown in Primary schools to nine year olds. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/18/23 Full Review Erika A "Cow" was an abomination. So many aspects of the film were just abhorrent to downright vile. First, there was zero communication about what was going on, why the filmmaker wanted to tell this story and what, as an audience member, I was to take away from the film. I felt completely sucker punched as the film leads you to become engaged and sympathetic to one particular cow at a dairy in Kent, England. The super, almost invasive close ups of the cow, the farmers called, "Luma", were repetitive. There was zero discussion about what was going on while we are forced to sit through shot after shot of activities at the dairy. There were only inaudible mumblings of the dairy staff. In the entire time of the documentary, we witness Luma giving birth to two calves. They are taken away from her fairly quickly and there is no understanding why. The film shows the mother mooing plaintively each time her newborn calf is removed from her. Cows are sentient beings and this separation was clearly emotional for the mom. So we are left with a feeling of deep sadness for this docile animal. Nor do we understand why the local vet who comes to check on the new calves takes what looks like a soldering gun to the head of the calf, searing and digging into the skull as the calf clearly struggles and bleats in pain. We just have to watch this gruesome act, but get no clarity of why it as to be done. We watch countless minutes of Luma being hooked up to the electronic dairy pumps, then corralled back into her stall...We get to see the young calves romping in the open field. The only moment of joy for these animals. We see them getting fed on more than one occasion and so on. The film is a plodding slog with no benefits. You don't learn anything about cows, except that their life is one of monotony, drudgery and clearly violent or unpleasant. And you are not told why we should even care about this dairy. But the most disturbing, shocking and violent moment is in the last seconds of the film, when we see this hard-working animal, seemingly still productive, moved to a different stall and suddenly shot to death. Again, the viewer is left in gut-wrenching shock. As such a viewer, I am disgusted with this piece of vacuous, senseless film and the ego and self-aggrandizing filmmaker. Shame on her. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis Academy Award-winner Andrea Arnold returns with an intimate portrait of one dairy cow's life. The film highlights the beauty and challenges cows face, and their great service to us all.
Director
Andrea Arnold
Producer
Kat Mansoor
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Doco Digital, BBC Films, Halcyon Pictures, Doc Society
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 8, 2022, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA)
$22.2K
Runtime
1h 33m
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