Cowboys de Filadelfia

"Alma de Cowboy" lindo e sensível filme no Netflix. Se você, como eu, gosta de cavalos, saiba que existem Cowboys no meio da cidade em Filadélfia! Sim, até hoje! Idris Elba mandou muito bem como ator e produtor desse filme. Super recomendo. Beautiful and sensitive film on Netflix. If you, like me, love horses, know that there are Cowboys in the middle of the city in Philadelphia! Yes, even today! Idris Elba nailed it as an actor and producer for this film. I highly recommend it. #movieslover #netflix.

Who would have thought cowboys in Philly and Black no less? Concrete Cowboy is a small Netflix drama about 15-year-old Cole (Caleb McLaughlin) reconnecting with his estranged cowboy dad, Harp (Idris Elba, also producer), in aging stables of Philadelphia, where a group of cowboys have their horses and their identities. Anyone who loved The Rider will find Concrete Cowboy just as interesting about horses and humans, although Cole is much too underdeveloped in this film to compete with Rider's Brady.

Although the film, based on G. Neri's Ghetto Cowboy (2011), has a generous supply of formula for a coming-of- age melodrama, the film infuses enough reality, including real cowboys to play parts, to make an enjoyable introduction to a culture most of us would never have known. Lenser Minka Farthing-Kohl finds beauty photographing the beautiful animals in the blighted 'hood, especially in sol-mo.

The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club is like no other, a Philadelphia organization for which the film makes no apology for its preaching about a slice of society ignored by pols and the public in general.

The film travels in formula with Cole initially rebellious and then transformed by the horse experience, Harp going soft on the Cole, ignoramuses threatening the cowboy life, etc., well, you get the idea. What keeps it above average is the measured development overseen by director Ricky Staub, whereby incrementally the story reveals good guys and bad, and the cowboys will ride on.

Like Cole and Harp, the story is about finding peace with loved ones and the world, both of which may guide us to a place called home. Even though the characters are outside the normal pale, they are worthwhile, sometimes talented folk who deserve a break. The fact that they are Black, urban cowboys is fascinating and itself a metaphor for repressed minorities everywhere.

Good film. I wouldn't say excellent or a classic. It is an interesting story, drawing attention to the stables in Philadelphia as well as the dominance of black cowboys. Yeh, no surprises, but it isn't a film for surprises, it's just a sweet tale. It is true, people that know horses may find some parts unrealistic, but what is real, and is shown well in the film, is the bond between horses and people. Anyway, don't go out of your way to find this film, but watch it if you can. PS, I never found it slow or boring. It was well paced and story developed nicely.

At some points the film it is a bit slow but that is part of a modern western so its oké. The film lasted just a bit too long, it could be 10 minutes shorter. Caleb Mclaughlin gives a great performance and he can play drama very well. Idris Elba is not that much in the movie but when he is there he is very good. At a few moments in the film it is very emotional and its inpressive How they handled it. There are a lot of beautiful shots in the movie. Overall its a good movie with tons of great acting but a little to slow and long.

I give the movie a 8/10.

As an African American who grew up in rural adjacent Mississippi (Memphis Metro), went to graduate school in Philly, and currently lives in DC, I appreciated the mash up of so many different worlds in this film, despite the clumsiness of the overall storyline.

Also, Philadelphia is such an interesting and diverse city! I enjoyed learning about the Fletcher Street cowboys, but viewers aren't really given a snapshot into much else in the city except for drugs and violence. That's really a shame considering Philly's amazing food scene, mural arts, rich music tradition, etc.