The History of Concrete (documentary) ★½

Documentarian John Wilson attended a seminar on how to make a Hallmark movie for one reason: to learn how to make a commercially viable film about concrete. Wilson’s esoteric topic for The History of Concrete requires some help in determining the formula for his film to be appealing to producers. After learning that Hollywood has girl-bossed too far and current sensibilities are correcting course, amongst other Hallmark trends, he has all he needs.

The question why John Wilson has decided to make a film about concrete is answered at the start of The History of Concrete, and is fairly logical. The concrete jungle that Wilson has made his home and subject of depictions of everyday life in his series How To with John Wilson is sprawling with concrete. With seemingly everything covered in concrete, its cracking, patchwork repairs, and contribution to flooding that occurs throughout the city can’t help but be observed to an idiosyncratic person like Wilson. “I don’t really think about the concrete like that” is stated by an interviewee Wilson chooses for the film, and this widespread sentiment leads Wilson to wonder how he will get funding for his project.

Wilson’s search for a hook takes him to Italy (the ancient Romans known for perfecting the use of concrete in infrastructure) and a freelance videographer that Wilson hires to the first 3D-printed concrete Starbucks in Texas as Wilson muses on the history of concrete. The film contains plenty of Wilson-isms with B-roll of oddly named streets and boats reinforcing Wilson’s overarching narration, and a concrete-focused convention of the likes that Wilson had attended related to niche occupations in his How To series. Showing portions of Zoom meetings with producers and contract language around a requirement to feature a musician (music biopics & documentaries have been a successful genre in recent years), Wilson connects with local musician Jack Macco who works at the liquor store giving out samples – and is of course not a famous musician the contract language refers to.

With much of The History of Concrete dedicated to the audaciousness of making a film about concrete, once you get past the ‘I can’t believe he’s making a film about concrete’ conceit, the plot becomes a little thin. Being preoccupied with uncertainty in how to make a film is not interesting in itself. Wilson does highlight unusual events and human behavior & businesses that are bizarre tangents related to concrete and the concept of permanence; however, any time he finds an interesting idea, Wilson halfheartedly examines it then turns focus elsewhere. In Rome, he chooses to ask a few security guards about the history of a concrete building that has survived to this day, but this is purely an attempt to draw some light humor and not an earnest effort to uncover the answer which could be informative or used as a means to explore the concept of permanence.

Admitting to himself and audiences that concrete isn’t really that interesting, Wilson turns his focus to Macco’s life in the second part of the film. When Macco’s fiancée unexpectedly passes away, Wilson interviews Macco on their relationship. Macco’s fiancée was professionally renowned as a judge and Wilson asks Macco about their compatibility given the differences in their lifestyles, but this inquiry at best is an attempt to find comedy where there is none. From Macco’s body language, it is clear that he has suffered a great loss and loved her dearly. The tragedy in Macco’s life is not an appropriate source of comedy to stir interest in a movie.

This unfortunately is not the only event in The History of Concrete that could be deemed as distasteful and a scene where Wilson observes actors making an independent film is another misstep. There is no humor to be found in showing a group of passionate actors and film crew making a film for the sake of making a film, regardless if it isn’t destined for an Oscar. One of the filmmakers explains to Wilson when Wilson asks about their hope for the short film that they are primarily making it for themselves and it’s clear that any festival submission is second priority even as the filmmaker attempts to find a justification other than for personal reasons when asked by Wilson.

Rather than its subject matter of concrete, The History of Concrete is more interesting as an exposé of what Wilson thinks of his own work, or of fame (he attends a tribute dinner to Kim Kardashian with her in attendance), or of filmmaking (Hallmark). Wilson points out the billboard for his show in Times Square to a passing worker, illustrating the lack of focus and overt self-referential quality of The History of Concrete. As Wilson shows B-roll from attending the Emmys and mentions his show not winning an Emmy, Wilson seems to have some frustration with filmmaking or with what filmmaking is supposed to accomplish. Wilson doesn’t state this directly, but there’s too much screentime dedicated to the concept of filmmaking within The History of Concrete for the topic not to linger near the top of Wilson’s subconscious. It’s odd that Wilson doesn’t make the connection between permanence and art/filmmaking, but this is perhaps due to his cynicism for the future. The freelancer that Wilson had hired to film the 3D-printed Starbucks sent overly polished drone footage that clearly wasn’t in the handheld documentary style of filmmaking that Wilson had requested, and reflects an overly commercialized, ‘lifeless’ style of filmmaking.

As a whole, John Wilson’s deviations away from concrete seem less connected to his topic when compared to the tangents that he would take in his TV series. Wilson’s formula that worked so well in How To with John Wilson unfortunately didn’t translate to a feature-length film. The History of Concrete never coalesces into anything more substantial than a lesson on the difference between cement and concrete, and closes with a perspective of defeatism that won’t be likely to invite a re-watch.