Whether it's Gilderoy in the bone-chilling, foley horror Berberian Sound Studio or Alan Bates in real-life drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Toby Jones has played many a great role both on the big and small screen. If you'd like to see him as a more villainous character, we've got a great pick for movie night — and it's one of the star's highest-rated films on Rotten Tomatoes.
Released in 2020 after a successful festival run the previous year, Kelly Reichardt's drama First Cow adapts a story of entrepreneurial spirit and unlikely friendship in 1820s Oregon.
Co-written by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond from his 2004 novel, The Half-Life, the movie follows protagonist Cookie (John Magaro), a kind chef for a travelling group of fur trappers, as he befriends Chinese immigrant Lu (Orion Lee).
Thanks to Cookie's baking skills and Lu's inventiveness, the duo starts stealing milk from the only milk cow in the area so they can set up an oily cakes business. And that's where Jones's Chief Factor character comes into play, as he's the owner of the titular cow and not one you'd want to mess with, as Cookie and Lu realise.
Boasting a near-perfect score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, First Cow is available to stream right now, and we've got details of where you can give it a watch (or rewatch).
Who stars in First Cow?
• John Magaro as Otis 'Cookie' Figowitz
• Orion Lee as King-Lu
• Toby Jones as Chief Factor
• Lily Gladstone as Chief Factor's wife
• Alia Shawkat as Woman with Dog
• René Auberjonois as Man with Raven
• Ewen Bremner as Lloyd
• Scott Shepherd as Captain
• Gary Farmer as Totillicum
• Dylan Smith as Jack
• Stephen Malkmus as Fiddler
• Mitchell Saddleback as Chief Factor's Servant
• Jared Kasowski as Thomas
• Todd A. Robinson as Fort Trapper
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What did critics say about First Cow?
Premiered at Telluride Film Festival in 2019, First Cow earned positive reviews and ended up on several end-of-year film lists once it was released in 2020, including the top 10s of Sight & Sound and the National Board of Review.
Critics branded Reichardt's film "the antithesis of the dusty classic western" and noted how it's "filmed with a compassionate eye" (via iNews.co.uk) while remaining "sensual, bleak and meticulously authentic" (via London Evening Standard).
The Independent praised First Cow as "a magnificent yet modest work of tenderness" (via Crooked Marquee) and "a bold, perceptive portrait of early America that deserves to be held up as a new standard of historical filmmaking", with Time Out celebrating the "stellar but understated" central performances from Magaro and Lee.
Several critics invited the audience to sit with the film and embrace its seemingly slow pace, with The AV Club urging viewers not to mistake "the lightness of step for a softness of philosophy".
Entertainment Weekly similarly noted: "Some itchy viewers probably (and understandably) won't make it past the first 20 minutes. But if they stay, the deliberate paces of Reichardt's storytelling do cast a sort of spell: a bittersweet comic absurdity, told in the rhythms of real life."
Where can I watch First Cow?
In the UK, First Cow is available to watch on Mubi which can be added as a Prime Video channel to your Amazon Prime subscription, and comes with a seven-day free trial so you could watch the movie for free.
Mubi also has its own streaming platform you can sign up to separately if you'd prefer.
Movie fans based in the US can watch First Cow for free with ads on The Roku Channel.
Other Toby Jones movies you can stream right now
If you'd like something a tad more action-packed in the traditional sense, Jones also stars as supervillain Arnim Zola in the MCU, featuring in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, both available to stream on Disney+.
On the same platform is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, in which Jones plays Basil Shaw opposite Harrison Ford's Indy.
Jones also stars as Mr Eversoll in Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom, currently available on Netflix, Prime Video, Sky and Now Cinema in the UK and Netflix and YouTube TV in the US.
First Cow is streaming on Mubi in the UK and The Roku Channel in the US. It is also available to rent and buy on multiple digital retailers.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
