John Wilson's First Movie Is About Concrete and It's Already the Weirdest, Best Thing of the Year

John Wilson, the creative mind behind HBO’sHow to With John Wilson, has officially released his first feature film,A History of Concrete. The movie follows Wilson as he pitches a documentary about concrete to skeptical executives, then drifts into Hallmark movie formulas, Roman concrete techniques, and deeply human conversations with strangers across New York City. It’s the same absurdist, street-level storytelling that made his show a cult favorite, just stretched into a full-length narrative.

What makes this project even more impressive is how Wilson pulled it off. After his HBO series ended, he lost access to his entire footage archive since the network owns it. So he shot 99 percent of the film himself, rebuilding his visual library from nothing. He also included unaired Zoom calls with the executives who rejected his pitch, blurring some of their faces without their knowledge. The film features cameos from Timothée Chalamet and Jacob Elordi on the set ofMarty Supreme, and touches on Wilson’s experience as a landlord and his unexpected connection to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s infrastructure agenda.

The result is a meandering, funny, and surprisingly emotional look at cities, affordable housing, and what really holds communities together. Whether you’re a longtime fan or brand new to Wilson’s world,A History of Concretesounds like a must-watch. Have you streamed it yet? What’s the most random topic you’d want to see turned into a full movie? Tell us in the comments.