The History of Concrete, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is a clever and amusing documentary about concrete and everything it touches. John Wilson essentially made a feature length episode of his HBO show How To with John Wilson.
It begins when Wilson looks for a new project. During the WGA strike he attends a seminar on writing Hallmark movies.
The Hallmark movie he watches for research is 'Twas the Date Before Christmas. Since the plot deals with affordable housing, it leads him to think about his own home he rents and his attempt at concrete foundation repair.
That roundabout path is how Wilson approaches everything. Wherever Wilson goes, he finds the most absurd aspect and includes it whether it's concrete-related or not.
Wilson's irreverent style leads him to film the funniest, most random images like Butts Real Estate. Visiting concrete structures in Rome, he also visits a wax museum that makes its statues talk with A.I. voices that hilariously sound nothing like them and mispronounce English words.
But concrete specific exploration still fits Wilson's sensibilities. He finds the most outrageous sidewalk damage and sloppy repairs to document. Gum is a major cause of concrete blemishes, so Wilson finds a gum cleaner and interviews him.
But, when he interviews someone with their late loved one's tattoo preserved, he follows the lead to Save My Ink, which preserves tattooed skin. Save My Ink has nothing to do with concrete but is another quirky detour.
A Las Vegas concrete convention looks like a party with competitive brick laying contests. Pools are concrete and Wilson explores how they clean accidents which is good to know if you swim in public pools.
Wilson narrates in the second person, but when he says "you" he's talking about himself. He stammers and does not edit the narration for concision. At this point, that is his brand and it is endearing.
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He doesn't actually learn much about concrete's past beyond explaining how the compound is made. It's more a documentary about modern concrete.
Semantics aside, the point remains that a documentary about concrete is a funny idea. Wilson makes it so while also discovering genuine relevance.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.