It's hard to believe a man who befriended two cows can hold your attention for 90 minutes.
When the Cows Come Home is the latest film from New Zealand filmmaker Costa Botes. Perhaps most well-known for fooling the country with his Peter Jackson collaboration Forgotten Silver which told the fictional story of Colin McKenzie, the greatest Kiwi who never lived.
This film, however, is completely real. It tells the story of Andrew Johnstone, a farmer based in the Waikato region who saved two cows, Maggie & Tilly from execution and found a new sense of purpose with his bovine besties.
Johnstone has worn many hats in his lifetime, working on the radio and as a film reviewer for Rip It Up magazine, but watching him interact with his herd of cows, it's clear he's found his calling.
Filmed over three visits to Cambridge, When the Cows Come Home is an incredibly raw film, unafraid to pull at the less flattering threads of Andrew's life. The credits fly by at the end of the film as you realise it mostly is just two men, a camera and a bunch of cows.
Of course, Botes wasn't the only person working on the film, the score by Tom McLeod is a highlight of the film, adding a real emotional resonance to the piece.
Talking to director Costa Botes, he told me that he is contemplating retirement following When the Cows Come Home, citing failing health and the endurance and stamina required to direct a film.
If this does end up being the final film from the veteran filmmaker, it's a beautiful send-off, discussing what makes us happy, who we are and what we were put on this earth to do.
I can't think of anything more quintessentially New Zealand than a farmer who has struggled with mental health issues and whose life is changed by a friendship with some livestock.
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