In a delightful twist of fate, filmmaker John Wilson, known for his offbeat observational series “How to with John Wilson” on HBO, has turned his sights on an unlikely subject: the history of concrete. His feature documentary debut, “The History of Concrete,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and it’s a captivating exploration that goes far beyond the mundane material.
Wilson, a master of the modern documentary-essay-memoir, brings his signature style to this project, unearthing the idiosyncratic, unintentionally hilarious, and thought-provoking vignettes that hide in plain sight. Drawing inspiration from an unexpected source – a Writers Guild of America workshop on how to make and sell a Hallmark movie – Wilson sets out to apply the same formula to a documentary about concrete, a substance that dominates our visual environment.
Through Wilson’s wry and insightful narration, the film becomes a meditation on change, decay, and the imperfect nature of progress. Concrete, the second most-used material on the planet after water, becomes a symbol of both the temporary and the permanent, a metaphor for the hard-scrabble realities of urban life.
The History of Concrete is a seamless extension of Wilson’s acclaimed HBO series, blending his signature visual collages and offbeat tangents with a deeper exploration of universal themes. From a junior bricklaying competition to a 3,100-mile race around a single block in Queens, the film is consistently laugh-out-loud funny, compelling, and surprising.
While the connective tissue can sometimes feel a bit loose, especially in the film’s final act, Wilson’s unwavering curiosity and his ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary more than make up for it. The History of Concrete is a must-see for fans of Wilson’s work, and a delightful introduction for newcomers to his unique brand of documentary storytelling.