COW
★★★★
OUT 14 JANUARY (CINEMAS) / 11 FEBRUARY (MUBI) / CERT TBC / 94 MINS
DIRECTOR Andrea Arnold
PARTICIPANTS Luma
A relentlessly sombre rhythm courses through Andrea Arnold’s non-fictional debut, which follows a milk cow named Luma. It’s a formal departure from the Fish Tank filmmaker, who spends the runtime framing Luma’s face and body through handheld, intimate camerawork. Cow begins with the birth of her calf, and ends, well, the way you would expect but still aren’t quite prepared for. Arnold makes her point about animal exploitation concisely and through deliberate pacing.