We’re not the only ones grazing for this episode as we take a look at an intriguing new trend in cinema: the proliferance of feature-length ‘observational’ documentaries about livestock.

Victor Kossakovsky’s GUNDA (2021) and Andrea Arnold’s COW (2021) wring tension, drama and political impetus out of paying £15 to watch a farm animal’s daily life projected 60-feet tall with strikingly different aesthetic approaches, prompting us to revisit a true classic of our time in Michelangelo Frammartino’s Hircine masterpiece LE QUATTRO VOLTE (2010), as well as other cinematic precedents by Georges Franju, Robert Bresson and Béla Tarr. Frammartino’s new film IL BUCO, his first in twelve years and a truly awe-inspiring development of his style, previewed at the London Film Festival last year and will be released by New Wave Films on June 10th.

The soundtrack features a cover of ‘Reincarnation’ by Roger Miller.

Select filmography:Cow (2021) Gunda (2020) Le Quattro Volte (2010) The Metamorphosis of Birds (2020) The Turin Horse (2011)River (2021) Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) Le Sang des bêtes (1949)

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Produced by Sam Storey