Concrete Cowboy, based on the novel Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, portrays a culture that is not only forgotten, but as if erased from historical records due to systemic racism. Accompanied by a bonfire, we hear the explanations of the original members of the Street Urban Riding Club letchers. Not forgetting the whitewashing of Hollywood was discussed, which ended up identifying “cowboy movies” with white masculinity, ignoring the person of color, both Indians who are often portrayed as brutal primitive antagonists, and the elimination of the existence of black cowboys. Even though as mentioned by one of the characters of this film, in reality, as a victim of oppression, black cowboys know better how to care for horses using love. Best Movie Site
Unfortunately this interesting and informative chat only lasted for a moment. In fact, there are mountains of material that can facilitate the birth of long speech, both in the form of fictional and documentary narratives. The script written by Staub and Dan Walser is limited to stopping at the surface level, reluctant to invite the audience to further understand a series of complex issues, including matters of gentrification and the suitability of habitat for animals.
Instead, clichéd coming-of-age stories are dominant. We know that in the future the relationship between Cole and Harp will no longer be tenuous. We also know how Cole’s friendship with Smush (Jharrel Jerome), a former cowboy who swerved into a drug dealer, ended. The problem lies not in clichédness, but how it hinders the development space for a much more interesting and highly relevant story. Top Movie
Even the formulaic narrative is not maximally presented. Cole’s process of finding maturity is completely inconclusive, mainly because of the “child prodigy” element. Cole is like a child prodigy. Never once living life as a cowboy, suddenly he is the only person capable of taming the wildest horse in town. While her relationship with her father failed to have the emotional impact she had hoped for, Cole and Harp had very few interactions. No matter how great Idris Elba (who is as always charismatic), just giving him a moment or two is not enough.
Straub proved that as a director, he had a lot of potential. The colors of the twilight in Minka Farthing-Kohl’s cinematography that accompany horse riding, cascading and grooves that are handled with fullness, are some examples of Straub’s sensitivity in wrapping his film. Unfortunately, he devotes sensitivity to matter, which in essence has lost its way. Movie Review