Do you ever think about concrete? The trailers opening line for The History of Concrete sets the tone for filmmaker John Wilsons first feature, which opened in select theaters in the U.S. last Friday. Known for the cult-favorite HBO docuseries How To with John Wilson, Wilson turns his attention to a material that is everywhere and, until now, easy to ignore.
A debut grounded in the everyday
Wilsons movie debut is primed for absurdity, zeroing in on something immanently mundane yet fundamental to the way we live. The film observes how concrete undergirds daily life, from urban sidewalks and buildings to private homes, while also clocking the eccentric ways it surfaces on the streets and within the industries that have grown up around it. In other words, the gray stuff underfoot becomes both subject and lens.
For viewers familiar with his series, Wilsons approach will ring true. He once described How To with John Wilson as being kind of like that show Planet Earth, except if it was only in New York and David Attenborough was forced to film everything himself. That sensibility threads through The History of Concrete, which uses an everyday substance as an unlikely medium through which to understand New York and its denizens.
Seeing New York in a new material light
The documentary lingers on concretes ubiquityits the infrastructural building block most of us step over without a second thoughtand reframes it as a portal into the character of the city. Sidewalk seams, facades, and domestic interiors become signposts in Wilsons characteristically curious map of urban life, where humor and observation converge.
By following concrete wherever it appearsfrom orderly pavements to idiosyncratic street sightings and the enterprises that surround themWilson sketches a portrait of place through material. The result is a work that promises both laughs and a sharpened eye for whats been hiding in plain sight. More can be found on the movies website.
Images courtesy of John Wilson, Magnolia Pictures, and Magnet Releasing.
