The History of Concrete

Anyone expecting The History of Concrete to be a ponderous documentary clearly hasn’t encountered American director John Wilson. Just as in his idiosyncratic HBO series How To with John Wilson, his curious mind is always prone to wandering off on unexpected tangents. In order to get a project about the history of concrete off the ground, he turns to the cheesy TV movies of the Hallmark Channel. The result is a series of wonderfully bizarre detours (3D-printed Starbucks, gum removers, Christmas music by gangsta rapper DMX, Tibetan sand mandalas), as well as disarming insights into the literal and figurative cracks in a concrete world.
With Wilson narrating in the second person, the film offers a human perspective on America from the inside, with tonnes of humour holding it all together. Surprisingly reminiscent in style of the documentaries of Agnès Varda. From the most unexpected of places comes a feel-good film for anyone who feels stuck. But nothing is set in stone – or cast in concrete.