Flyerplesys
Perfectly adorable
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Ogosmith
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Robert Reynolds
This is a short done by Aleksandr Petrov, done by painting directly on glass. There will be spoilers ahead:This short, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated short, losing to Balance, is an early short by Aleksandr Petrov. The story concerns a poor farming family and their son's remembrance of the family's cow.The cow gives birth to a calf at the start of the short (I love how the mother gets the calf to drink milk from a pail). The calf grows, but must be sold early due to the family's poverty. The cow grows discontent, balking at pulling the plow in the fields.The boy tries to console the cow, encouraging her to forget her calf and think of him as her son now. One day, the cow breaks free and runs off. Here, the short becomes dream-like, with part of it a flight of fancy in the boy's imagination and part of it all too grim reality, as the family loses their cow to tragedy.The short closes with the boy remembering the cow and everything it gave (literally and figuratively). It's absolutely beautiful visually, even as narratively it speeds to misfortune.This short has been on VHS and can be found online. Most recommended.
Armand
not only for Petrov technique. but for the taste of hot bread and fresh milk. for the surrealism. and for the quality of brick of a Russia image. a boy. and his cow. a story about a gesture. and a reaction. as memories. as confession. nothing complicated. only a travel in the heart of an universe. after its end, not the story remains important for viewer but the delicacy of last boy words air.something magic because it represents a beginning. like the film itself. a film for adults for remember small details who defines life. nothing more. only an exercise of remember. like a trip of a boy in search of his cow. the force of image. the genius and hard work of an artist. and the silence after its end. a form of magic who impress and seduce. and becomes part of yourself
Rectangular_businessman
Words just cannot express all the astounding beauty and emotion that are displayed in all the shorts made by the Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov: In all his shorts, even the most ordinary things from everyday life can be turned into something exquisite through the magnificent animation style of this filmmaker."The Cow", his first short, is not the exception of this rule: In less than ten minutes, and almost without dialogue, Petrov is able to make an incredibly captivating tale, with an almost dream-like atmosphere, but which also has an intense feeling of sadness and nostalgia in every scene. The ending of this short is particularly heart-breaking, but at the same, is inspiring and fulfilling.I loved this short. It is a strong beginning for the equally strong filmography of Aleksandr Petrov, who is, in my opinion one of the greatest animator who ever lived.
ackstasis
Aleksandr Petrov is one of the Soviet Union's most respected animators, and his accomplished use of paint-on-glass animation has made his films instantly recognisable and, above all else, absolutely timeless. Petrov studied at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (abbreviated to VGIK, and known as Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography since 1986), and, throughout the 1980s, refined his animation technique as art director on such films as 'Welcome (1986).' Petrov's directorial debut was 'Marathon (1988),' a short film that is currently unlisted on IMDb {as are countless works of excellent Soviet animation; if only the administrators didn't merely ignore my attempts at updating their database listings}.However, the animator's breakthrough film was 'Korova / Cow,' a lovely and touching ten minute short about a young boy and his impoverished family's cow. The film received worldwide acclaim and was nominated at the 1990 Academy Awards, though Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein's interesting (but inferior) 'Balance (1989)' ultimately took the Oscar. Nevertheless, Petrov eventually won the award in 2000 for his breathtaking adaptation of 'The Old Man and the Sea (1999).' Petrov's style of animation has often been described as "romantic realism," and this is a generally good summation. His attention-to-detail, especially considering the difficult and time-consuming process of paint-on-glass, is absolutely staggering, and yet the slowly shifting colours and textures create a timeless, dream-like quality. It's as though his films exist in a moment permanently suspended between the real world and the world of our hopes, dreams and memories.A young boy fondly remembers when his family used to own a beautiful cow. In times of poverty, she was a godsend, always providing mother, father and son with their daily serve of milk. One day, when times get particularly tough, the father is forced to sell the cow's young calf for meat. The heartbroken mother cow suddenly turns silent and obstinate, before breaking free and disappearing perilously into the Russian countryside. Though Petrov ordinarily strives for realism, the film's explosive climax is a wonderful piece of surrealism, as the young boy's dreams feverishly blend key components of the story the cow, the railway line, the plough into a singularly devastating conclusion.