Since his HBO series How to with John Wilson came to an end in 2023 after three seasons, John Wilson has felt directionless. Struggling to secure financing for his latest project, he attends a WGA seminar on writing Hallmark movies, whose revenue streams seem uniquely unaffected by recent industry turmoil. In a roundabout way, the seminar’s guidelines, which emphasize escapism, commercial appeal, and optimism, serve as the inspiration for Wilson’s funny and expectedly poignant feature directorial debut, The History of Concrete, which defines itself in opposition to Hallmark’s, well, hallmarks.

As Wilson intersperses narrated musings on concrete with frequent Zoom calls pitching this documentary subject to dumbstruck agents and producers, the documentary reveals itself as a chronicle of its own making. Functionally, The History of Concrete operates like a feature-length episode of Wilson’s HBO series. Absurd B-roll captured around New York City comprises the bulk of the film’s imagery, strung together by the filmmaker’s narration, his anthropological observations brimming with his signature dry wit. But the 101-minute running time affords Wilson new formal opportunities, even within a familiar framework.

While Wilson’s approach has always involved veering off on detours from his central thesis, usually upon meeting some eccentric person and falling down a rabbit hole alongside them, here he’s able to revisit separate ongoing threads, such as a 52-day marathon spanning 3,100 miles on concrete, or the musical aspirations of a local liquor store sample attendant. While much of Wilson’s work can hardly be said to have even a semblance of plot, it’s easy to recognize A, B, and C plots within the more expository discussions here on city planning and mortality.

In this regard, The History of Concrete begins to structurally mimic the form of concrete itself. As we’re informed by factory workers, the difference between cement and concrete is that the former is a specific material, whereas the latter is a mixture of cement and various other materials and objects. This renders concrete a less reinforced material than pure cement, and as many concrete workers remark throughout the film, it’s only growing weaker.

At one point in the film, Wilson observes that a split-open piece of concrete, with rocks strewn about the inside of a cement filling, resembles a fruitcake. One can’t help but look at The History of Concrete, essentially a system of non sequitur, as Wilson’s own fruitcake of sorts. And part of his journey, as he interviews individuals and witnesses comical scenarios while journeying across New York City, is coming to terms with the fragility of that structure.

While much of The History of Concrete’s entertainment value comes from Wilson’s deadpan humor as he tries to convince people that a film about concrete is even worth making, he’s dead-serious when he points out that the structural integrity of concrete is being challenged by the day. New York City, for one, is facing increasing flooding issues due to crumbling concrete foundations. There’s also the matter of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, where the steel mesh sheets being used to hold crumbling concrete in place are becoming increasingly unstable.

Wilson links his anxieties around aging infrastructure to those around the longevity of his career. Clearly, he feels a lack of structure in his own life, having anticipated How to with John Wilson to be a more permanent fixture than it turned out to be, both commercially and culturally. With royalty checks from HBO dwindling and a position in popular culture he’s not quite sure how to square (on the one hand, he’s popular enough to be used to promote Ridgewood-themed weed strains, but on the other, someone confuses him for Ari Aster), one can feel, as he describes the way concrete is deteriorating, that Wilson is reckoning with the impermanence of art.

One of Wilson’s preoccupations is the Buddhist ritual of sand mandalas where monks spend days creating intricate designs out of sand, only to destroy them as soon as they’re completed. The odd and poignant The History of Concrete, then, could be seen as a show of Buddhist acceptance of art’s—and by extension life’s—transience. The way Wilson sees it, as more than just his beloved city is on the brink of collapse, permanence in art is incompatible with reality.

Score: 

 Director: John Wilson  Screenwriter: John Wilson  Running Time: 101 min  Rating: NR  Year: 2026  Venue: Sundance Film Festival
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