When Documenting the Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary: The History Of Concrete Film Review
Still from The History of Concrete. Photo courtesy of the Calgary Underground Film Festival.
"His voice is really unique — few things make me laugh when I’m alone watching something, and his stuff does. It’s equal parts funny and sad, not so much joke-heavy as a tone I really enjoy. Our show has this How To format, but underneath that, it’s about being comfortable with how confusing modern life is. I’m excited to see what people think."
On October 23rd 2020, a bespectacled, inquisitive and open-hearted person named John Wilson welcomed an audience by saying “Hello New York” on his Nathan Fielder-produced HBO series, How To with John Wilson. Over three seasons, he taught you about scaffolding (genuinely, ever since his season one episode “How To Put Up Scaffolding,” I can’t stop seeing scaffolding in every city I go to), how to cook the perfect risotto and so much more. He also, on the season 2 episode “How to Remember Your Dreams,” documented a New York-based Avatar fan group and it is one of the most moving pieces of television of the decade so far. That segment is a great snapshot of John Wilson’s gift as a filmmaker, as any other filmmaker would film a group full make-up dressed up, and Na’Vi-speaking earnest fans of James Cameron’s space opera as a way to point and laugh at them, but instead Wilson passes no judgment and just shows them being who they are, proudly. It’s why John Wilson is the closest thing we have to the recently departed documentary filmmaking godhead Frederick Wiseman (someone whom Wilson interviewed on stage in 2025 at New York’s Lincoln Center) who also had an obsession with documenting the ordinary.
Post-How To what is John Wilson’s next act? That is partly what his new feature film The History of Concrete is about, which begins with Wilson attending a workshop on how to create a Hallmark movie, expands into Wilson making a film attempting to explain the history of concrete, and then in classic John Wilson fashion, becomes about so much more. Those other things: DMX, a scraping-gum-off-sidewalks business called Gum Busters, music docs/rockumentaries, a business that preserves tattoos from deceased people, a grueling marathon with a religious context across a Queens city block, a concrete convention, DIY musicians, and so, so much more. Like the “How To Put Up Scaffolding” episode of How To, you will learn more about the subject of concrete than you ever thought was possible, and also like the scaffolding episode, you will see concrete everywhere once you leave the film.
The easiest way to describe The History of Concrete is that it’s a feature length version of John Wilson’s past documentary work like How To. If you are already a fan, there is a zero percent chance you won’t enjoy this as well. The one key difference from Wilson’s past work is you are watching it in a room with others, as I did tonight during its Canadian premiere as part of the Calgary Underground Film Festival. To be with a receptive crowd, and hearing the things that made people laugh, it was such a joyous experience. You will feel closer and more connected to people, as no one is better than John Wilson at documenting human beings you might initially dismiss or laugh at on first view, but the more you learn about these people, you see how deeply everyone is just trying to get by and live their lives. It’s a film that will make you reflect compassionately about others and also a film where John Wilson does a Kids in the Hall “I am crushing your head”-like motion to former New York City mayor Eric Adams. What more could you want in a film?
The second screening of The History Of Concrete on April 26th is sold out but you may have luck joining the rush line!