I often enjoy watching films without knowing anything about them beforehand, and Concrete Cowboy was my most recent experience like that. Ricky Staub and Dan Walser made their feature film debuts as director and screenwriter, respectively. Based on just the description, I anticipated a familiar coming-of-age story—a troubled young person sent to live with his father in a rural setting far from city life. Within the first twenty minutes, it became quite predictable; everything that happens can be easily foreseen. From how the characters develop to specific events, the screenplay is standard and offers no surprises. However, Staub’s directorial debut is strong and enhances the entire movie, demonstrating his skill behind the camera. Most importantly, he showed a clear dedication to telling the story he envisioned. This led me to an interesting detail about the production that I hadn't realized earlier. While I knew the film was adapted from a novel, I didn’t know that actual Philadelphia cowboys appeared in it – something clearly advertised in the trailers. The closing credits—which are worth watching after the movie ends—include brief interviews with these non-actors, and they feel genuine and touching. Hearing these individuals talk about their love for horses and their ongoing struggle to maintain the stables provides a new perspective on earlier scenes featuring the actors playing characters. It also helped me understand and accept why some moments involving the non-actors felt somewhat unremarkable. Idris Elba is excellent in his role as the father, but Caleb McLaughlin—already nineteen years old—truly shines with an emotionally powerful performance that pushed him physically beyond what I expected. His character follows a typical path of a young person who must learn valuable lessons through hard work and tough love. The rest of the cast delivers acceptable performances, though they don’t manage to overcome the film's fundamental problems. An uninspired subplot about drugs slows down the movie considerably, gradually undermining its already deliberate pace. Throughout the film, viewers are repeatedly diverted from the main story to this secondary narrative that ultimately has no bearing on the outcome, diminishing the impact of later developments. Walser’s screenplay adheres to a conventional storytelling approach, relying too much on the cast's ability to inject energy into each scene, which doesn't happen often enough. Technically, Minka Farthing-Kohl’s cinematography contributes to a somewhat gloomy atmosphere, but I found the camera work to be overly unsteady. Luke Ciarrocchi’s editing could have been better—there are many abrupt transitions between scenes. The music by Kevin Matley is pleasant. Concrete Cowboy presents a predictable coming-of-age story that had the potential to be more engaging if it had concentrated on its core narrative. As has happened countless times before, a tired subplot involving drugs negatively affects the film’s carefully controlled pacing and overall interest in the main storyline. Nevertheless, Ricky Staub demonstrates himself to be a dedicated director with a clear vision, incorporating real-life Philadelphia cowboys who added much-needed authenticity. Caleb McLaughlin is remarkable as a familiar but compelling young hero, while Idris Elba portrays the stern father convincingly. Despite some issues with choppy editing and shaky camerawork, it’s an overall well-made Netflix film suitable for weekend viewing. Rating: C+

Source on TMDB