Caleb McLaughling, you will probably recognize him if you watch Stranger Things. He’s a teen living in Detroit that has the wrong friends, always in trouble and has just gotten expelled from school. His mother who has exhausted possibilities to get her son to wise up has decided to take him and leave him with his estranged father Idris Elba in Philadelphia. Caleb immediately realizes he’s in a different world and life style, also realizes his dad is a cowboy. That’s right a modern cowboy who has decided to keep a legacy of Philadelphia alive the best he can, with a bunch of friends they operate a make shift stable, along with reconnecting with his father there is also a reunion with an old friend played by Jharrel Jerome who was Kevin at age 16 in Moonlight this is a young adult that Elba warns is bad news and refuses to let his son live under his life if these two run together. Caleb begins to help in the stables and more than horses are being broken in now. Trouble comes though when his friend runs into trouble with the wrong crowd and the horses he has grown found of are being taken away to make way for modern development into the area. Caleb will have to chose what’s important to him and where his beliefs lie.
This is an absolutely amazing father and son story set in a sub culture and world that is fascinating, filled in with real people not actors who live this lifestyle. I received a screener for this, had no idea what it was about, just that it had Idris Elba and who does not love some Idris Elba. While it does largely revolve around Caleb and finding himself it’s about this subculture in Philadelphia that is slowly being eradicated to make way for mainstream culture. Concrete Cowboy has some great messages in a well made package, there are messages about family to ones about community. This is one that had me thinking about these people after the movie ended where are they now are they still there have they been further pushed out to make room for another condo complex.
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