When an inventive cult filmmaker decides to make a Hallmark-style documentary on concrete, he paves a path to something far more profound and hilarious. Idle during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, documentarian John Wilson attends a workshop on how to make Hallmark Christmas rom-com movies. Inspired by his apartment building’s crumbling foundations, he tests this aspirational, escapist formula on the world’s love affair with concrete. Unsurprisingly, Wilson struggles to pitch his idea to prospective investors – and, fretting that he might be falling through the industry’s cracks, he takes a pilgrimage from the celebrity handprints outside LA’s Chinese Theatre to the dome atop Rome’s ancient Pantheon and more, finding surprising insights along the way. “I doubt any movie, especially any documentary, will make me laugh harder this year, and many of its emotional grace notes land fully. Even with my high expectations, The History of Concrete is a small triumph.” – The Hollywood Reporter