Comedic filmmaker John Wilson returns with his feature film debut, The History of Concrete, traveling from Italy to a Las Vegas trade show to explore ancient Roman building techniques and modern anxiety.
In his first feature film, The History of Concrete, filmmaker John Wilson explores ancient Roman self-repairing concrete and its modern equivalents, according to Kotaku. Known for his critically acclaimed HBO series How To with John Wilson
, where he pursued curious questions like how to watch sports, Wilson pivots to the big screen as he faces a two-fold problem: he no longer has a television show, and he does not know what his new documentary should be about. When his home’s foundation develops fissures and his own patching attempts fail, he begins studying the material that forms modern civilization.
Strange Side Quests and Global Exploration
Wilson’s cinematic journey takes him to Italy, though language barriers lead him to marvel instead at unique McDonald’s locations and a wax museum that rapidly incorporated artificial intelligence, as reported by Kotaku. The feature carries the trademark detours of his previous work. He shadows a specialist in chewing gum removal who samples an in-house wine label, joins a spiritualist jogging group that runs around a single city block for two straight months, and attends a Las Vegas concrete trade show where futurists brainstorm mixing cement on the Moon. Along the way, he speaks with NIMBYs, civil servants, Hallmark Channel producers, teenagers, and tattoo artists.
A Foundational Metaphor for Modern Anxiety
While ancient Romans used a specialized limestone heating process to create sturdy, self-repairing structures, modern concrete tells a different story. According to Kotaku, contemporary concrete quickly shows its age, fracturing and leaving gashes when patched. Buildings across modern cities are stapled back together with rusted metal bolts and packing tape, creating a ubiquitous, vulgar sensation that civilization is crumbling beneath our feet.
The publication notes that while the film serves as a difficult entry point for viewers new to Wilson’s world due to a missing narrative ribbon—especially as he gets distracted by a local metal singer—it remains packed with paradoxical enigmas. The documentary captures the surreal reality of an acclaimed documentarian sitting across from Kardashians at dinner while his royalty checks fail to cover dipping sauce, or communities refusing to sacrifice a blade of grass for Tony Hawk’s public skate park.
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