Concrete Cowboy review: Idris Elba rides horses as an urban cowboy

Idris Elba hopped in the saddle to tell the true story of Black cowboys living in Philadelphia in Netflix’s Concrete Cowboy, a coming of age tale about how people’s lives can be impacted based on their choices and the opportunities they are given within their underserved communities. The film is produced by Oscar nominee Lee Daniels and directed by newcomer Ricky Staub.

Elba plays a Fletcher Street rider named Harp who turns his life around after being incarcerated. He is tasked with raising his estranged teenage son Cole (Caleb McLaughlin from Stranger Things) when the boy gets in trouble at school and his frustrated mother decides she has had enough of his shenanigans. She grabs a bunch of his clothes, shoves them in garbage bags, and drives the sixteen-year-old from Detroit to see his father in Philadephia.

She deposits his bags on Harp’s front stoop and calls him to pick up his kid. She advises her son that he better straighten his life out by the time she returns after the summer and abandons her child in another state. I felt taken aback by the fact that this mother left her child alone in a dangerous neighborhood and didn’t look back. Cole is scared and disoriented after his mother abandons him. He meets his neighbor played by veteran actress Lorraine Toussaint who advises him that his father is hanging out at the stables a few blocks away.

The opening scenes of the movie are shot at night with naturalistic documentary style with available lighting by cinematographer Minka Farthing-Kohl. The African-American complexions of the cast are extremely underlit rendering them as uncomplimentary talking shadowy silhouettes on the screen. The technique of properly lighting African skin tones is a specialty in the industry after the success of the Academy Award-winning film Moonlight. There are subtle nuances to illuminating bronze skin to showcase the richness, range, and beauty like was showcased in the recent Coming 2 America sequel.

Minka Farthing-Kohl does succeed in creating stunning visuals during the magic hour when filming Elba riding horses into the sunset.  “It was really more like making a documentary than making a film. The community was super excited about us being there — but they weren’t going to allow us to become Hollywood. They made sure we were there to depict them truthfully,” Elba said, during an interview with the Philly Inquirer. Cole refuses to follow his father’s rules when he starts staying at his home and is punished by being locked out. He seeks refuge in a horse stable with a troubled horse and forms a bond with the community project once his neighbor tells him that he was lucky to survive the night. It turns out that the stubborn animal fights with everyone else, but for some reason he likes Cole.

Cole reconnects with his childhood friend Smush, played by Emmy winner Jharrel Jerome from Moonlight and When They See Us. Smush has now become a drug dealer engaged in a dangerous turf war over a corner with a rival.  Smush becomes a brotherly and caring surrogate paternal figure in Cole’s life as he mentors him on the ins and outs of life on the street. Cole’s father warns him not to hang around Smush, but he doesn’t listen.

One day Smush rewards Cole by giving him an expensive pair of white Air Jordan sneakers. Staub relies on the gift of these pristine shoes to spark several storylines within the plot. The first dilemma starts when Cole visits the stalls because he wants to learn how to ride his horse. But he is told that he first has to shovel muddy horse manure. The sequence proceeds in a predictable manner with him scooping a portion in small increments until he has an obvious accident with dropping dung on his Jordans.

I immediately thought when I saw this that the boy knew he was going to a dirty place. So why did he keep his brand new kicks on?  Cole didn’t have any other possession that nice, so he would go out of his way to protect it. The writer/ director says that he was inspired by neighborhood stories to create the movie.  But I felt it begged the question that Cole would be smart enough to walk around the corner and change into his busted old sneakers so that he could toss them in the trash after they were smothered in feces. Jordans are like gold in the hood. People have literally been dying to get them for years since they were released.

Concrete Cowboy seems to be shaped by a cliched Boyz in the Hood template. The film lacks the depth of the 90’s classic directed by John Singleton. There may not be a scene providing a resounding street course on gentrification like the one delivered by Laurence Fishburne, but the topic of gentrification is repeatedly mentioned and the best moments are the ones that tap into the hearts of cast members who are real Fletcher Street riders.

One of them is Jamil Prattis who, as Paris, gives Cole advice on shoveling during cleanup. Paris is in a wheelchair and his pivotal scene is one of the performances that most resonated with me. He explains that he has a horse named after his late brother. The pair got into a fight with someone while dealing on a corner. His sibling wound up dead while he was crippled in a coma.  He understands now that the fighting was a waste of time and forever altered his life. His insight on gentrification comes with the revelation that he never owned anything because Starbucks built a place on the same spot they were fighting over.

Elba fans will be watching Concrete Cowboy to see the former Sexiest Man Alive. His character is a dysfunctional father who is so absent from his son’s life that he tells him the meaning of his name a couple of years before the boy is legally a man.

There is a small amount of growth in their relationship, but the bar is set pretty low. Cole just wants proof that his father cares about him. I was baffled that Idris was chainsmoking a blunt in every single scene of the movie that was purporting to promote community empowerment. But the heart of Concrete Cowboy was in the right place with showing the downsides of navigating street life.

Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man plays a cardboard “good cop” from the neighborhood and his speech about why he was driven to join the force didn’t age well. The movie premiered pre-COVID at the Toronto International Film Festival. But the release comes during the week of the George Floyd trial when an unarmed man was murdered by a cop in a scene that plays out like a Radio Raheem reenactment of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing.

Jharrel Jerome gave a memorable performance because you care about him. I did feel the countdown coming to the inevitable outcome in films like Menace II  Society based on his bad decisions. But I do hope others can see them and learn from the lessons shown like Cole. Smush confessed to Cole that he used to be a member of the Riders until he was kicked out. We can’t help but see that perhaps his life would take a different path if he remained. I recommend that people see this film and revisit the classics that came before to add to their perspective.

The goal of the club is a positive one that should be highlighted. I liked that Ivannah Mercedes “Esha” was included to show that cowgirls can have fun too. I just felt awkward seeing her love interest storyline because she appears at least 10 years older than her underage teenage paramour.

The film ends with a documentary-style montage of real Fletcher Street riders who live and ride their horses in the Philadelphia neighborhood where the film takes place.

“I can sit here and say I am in my 40’s right now. I believe in my heart [that’s] because of this stable. That’s why I don’t have a felony or any record. It helps keep you on a straight path,”  Michael Upshur, who plays”Miz” said, speaking about the positive impact that the program has made on his life.

Staub flashes a message to the audience on the screen before the final credits roll. “Like generations of cowboys before them, they ride on in search of a permanent stable to preserve their heritage.”  Ellis Ferrell uses his own money to keep the nonprofit running and started a GoFund Me after production wrapped on Concrete Cowboy, with the goal of having a permanent stable.

Concrete Cowboy is streaming now on Netflix.