In Cinemas

The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future review – magical realist fable climbs to a superb peak

Though it takes a while to find the right groove, this debut from Chilean director Francisca Alegrí locates some spectacular images

This feature film debut from Chilean director Francisca Alegría aims high from the start, tackling climate breakdown, gender identity, grief, and motherhood, amongst other things, filtered through an unmistakably Latin American magical realist sensibility. If The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future occasionally aims a little too high for its own good, then it at least backs that up with some exceptional filmmaking.

Far too many films that emerge from first-time directors are – to paraphrase Roger Ebert – concerned with what they’re about rather than how they are about it, and certainly there are times in the first half hour where you feel Alegría is underlining her Big Themes with bright highlighter, though perhaps this is a sop to anxious funders too scared to push the boat out (the film, like so many festival favourites these days, emerges from an international co-production that includes Chile, France and Germany).

But once the film settles into its strange, ethereal groove in the back half, there are some truly spectacular images to be found: the titular singing cow emerging in the dusk; swarms of birds covering the sky; a daughter and her grandmother, reunited across generations. If this sounds quite high-concept and FX-heavy for a small arthouse film, it really isn’t, with Alegría relying more on our suspension of disbelief and editing for the effect to work (in true magical realist style).

The plot emerges gradually – we see a mysterious middle-aged woman drag herself out of a river in which dying fish line the banks, and the next scene we see a trans daughter struggling with home life, deadnamed by her mother. The family return to their dairy farm on which they grew up to take care of the ailing grandfather, where they find the place in need of care, collapsing around them. Slowly, it emerges that the mysterious woman we see at the start is the family’s grandmother, who had committed suicide decades earlier by jumping in the river. She’s not quite haunting her family, but her mute presence, often unseen, certainly seems to unsettle everyone.

Throughout, Alegría and her cinematographer Inti Briones use stealthy, elegant tracking shots, often placed at chest or waist height rather than eye level, suggesting a slightly otherworldly point-of-view. Splitting the difference between Terrence Malick magic hour and John Carpenter-esque dread, these shots seem to cut our characters out of their surroundings, as if highlighting their sense of isolation against the natural world.

Modernity, Alegría suggests, is no defence against forthcoming climate breakdown, with rational thought an ill-suited buttress against forces we only barely comprehend. It is instead in reconciliation with our past that we’ll find the answers for the future; the film’s climactic scenes bring everything full circle, the soundtrack (choral and seemingly part-traditional but electronically modulated) meshing with its hallucinogenic visual imagination. A rocky start eventually climbs to a superb peak.

The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future is released in UK cinemas on 24 March.

Where to watch

More Reviews...

The Innocent review – 60s-inspired heist movie with an existential twist

In his fourth feature film, writer-director Louis Garrel explores with wit and tenderness the risk and worth of second chances

Baato review – Nepal’s past and future collide in an immersive, fraught documentary

A mountain trek intertwines with a road-building project, granting incisive, if underpowered, insight into a much underseen world

The Beanie Bubble review – a grim new low for the “corporate biopic” genre

With none of the saving graces of Tetris, Air, or Barbie, this ambition-free look at the Beanie Baby craze is pure mediocrity

Everybody Loves Jeanne review – thoroughly modern fable of grief, romantic confusion, and climate anxiety

Celine Deveaux's French-Portuguese debut can be too quirky for its own good, but a fantastically written lead character keeps it afloat

Features

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Little Women to Sergio Leone

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Coppola to Cross of Iron

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital

20 Best Films of 2023 (So Far)

With the year at the halfway point, our writers choose their favourite films, from daring documentaries to box office bombs

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Mistress America to The Man Who Wasn’t There

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital