HORSE PLAY (CONCRETE COWBOY)

 

Visitors to Dublin and Limerick will be familiar with the urban horse culture in both Irish cities.

However a new Netflix film shines a light on another city across the Atlantic that has a similar history with the animals.

'Concrete Cowboy' tells a fictionalised story of African American urban cowboys who really raise horses in stables in North Philadelphia.

An urban Western that mixes elements of a family drama with an inner city crime tale, Ricky Staub's movie features among its cast real riders from the city's Fletcher Street  stables and should cement the community's place in Philadelphian history.

Ghetto cowboys have been part and parcel of the city since the early 1900s as African Americans from the South arrived with their animals during industrialisation in search of work.

At first, some of the community found jobs as delivery men, driving horse-drawn carts that ferried food, milk and other goods around the city.

Others herded cattle, while some trained horses or became jockeys as the sport of professional racing took off.

As cars, lorries and trains replaced horses, a section of the community bought unwanted horses in auctions, sparing them a trip to the knacker's yard.

Riding clubs sprang up in neighbourhoods like Strawberry Mansion, with some continuing to this day thanks to devotees who pour their blood, sweat and earnings into the running of urban stables .

The tales of real ghetto cowboys feature in one particular scene in Staub's movie, as his characters gather around a campfire and trade anecdotes.

However at the heart of Staub's tale is the story of a wayward teenager connecting with a father he barely knows.

At the start of 'Concrete Cowboy', Caleb McLaughlin's 15 year old Cole has been hauled up in front of his high school head for another reprimand for getting into a bust up with another student.

Tired of having to constantly deal with his behaviour, his exasperated mother Liz Priestly's Amahle in her desperation drives to her ex's home in North Philly and agrees with Coke's estranged father, Idris Elba's Harp that their son could benefit from staying there for a while.

Cole is mystified when his mum leaves him at night in a neighborhood he barely knows and is especially taken back to find a horse inside Harp's living room.

Unimpressed by the lack of food in the fridge and the cupboards, he insists he will leave the following morning.

Nevertheless Cole spends the night on the sofa, as the rekindling of his relationship with his father gets off to a rocky start.

The next day, Cole runs into his older cousin, Jharrel Jerome's Smush who is excited to see him and talks nostalgically about when they were kids.

However Smush is also a troubled young man who fraternises with criminal elements and aspires to be a drug dealer.

Cole is furious when Harp warns him not to hang around with his cousin, refusing to let him stay in the house if he continues to so.

Raging with his dad, Cole sleeps in the stables instead - sneaking into a stall with a horse called Boo.

When he is discovered by Harp's friends the following day, they note Cole has established a bond with Boo and insist only he can break the animal into the life of ghetto stables.

Fascinated by Boo, Cole is drawn into working at the stables with Jamil Prattis' wheelchair confined rider, Paris taking him under his wing.

Cole initially has to shovel horse manure out of the stalls but he becomes quickly seduced by the ghetto cowboy culture.

However he is also drawn to secretly hanging out with Smush who has ambitions to build his own drug dealing territory.

This inevitably brings him onto the radar of Michael Ta'bon's criminal Jalen who is determined not to let Smush steal his turf.

Leroy, a local cop played by the rapper Method Man, is aware of the potential for bloodshed as Smush draws Cole into his dodgy dealings.

However he has other worries too, with developers looking to move in on the community and knock down the stables.

This prompts Leroy to visit Harp and his friends, gently warning them to fix the stables before the city authorities attempt to shut them down, alleging neglect of the animals.

Can the stables survive the relentless pursuit of gentrification by developers?

And can Cole strike a bond with Harp, while avoiding being sucked into Smush's world?

Adapted by Staub and Dan Walser from Greg Neri's novel 'Ghetto Cowboy,' 'Concrete Cowboy' somehow manages to successfully fuse the Western with the urban ghetto movie and the relationship drama - even if the execution is not always smooth.

Much of that is down to a cast of seasoned and first time performers who somehow manage to overcome the screenplay's predictable story arcs and make their characters credible.

McLaughlin, who Netflix audiences will know as Lucas in 'Stranger Things', does a decent job as the troubled young hero who is seduced by the ghetto cowboy lifestyle but risks it all out of loyalty to his reckless cousin.

Elba is magnetic as Harp, a steady voice of reason in the ghetto cowboy community who is only too aware of his shortcomings as a father but who is determined to do the right thing by his son.

Lorraine Toussaint is excellent as Nessie, a no nonsense neighbour of Harp's who remembers Cole as a young boy and takes an interest.

Method Man also impresses as Leroy, a cop with a heart of gold who enjoys a decent rapport with Harp and his friends and is keen to ensure the community is not destroyed.

Comedian Byron Bowers amuses as one of Harp's associates Rome who takes his friend on in a race.

Michael Ta'bon, a community artist who himself spent time in prison, is convincing as the drug kingpin determined not to cede ground to Smush.

Liz Priestly is effective too as Cole's weary, desperate mom.

Staub draws out strong performances too from his cast of real life ghetto cowboys and other acting debutantes.

Jamil Prattis impresses as the wheelchair bound Paris, while Ivannah Mercedes handles with ease her role as Esha, a teenage cowgirl who flirts with Cole and becomes his love interest.

However the performance of the movie undoubtedly belongs to Jharrel Jerome who audiences will know from Barry Jenkins' Oscar winning movie  'Moonlight' and the Netflix Central Park Five drama 'When They See Us'.

As Smush, he brings an unpredictable, reckless energy and naivete that is reminiscent of Robert de Niro's Johnny Boy in Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets'.

However Jerome is also very good at engaging the audience's sympathies to the extent that not even the director can bear the thought of him suffering at the hands of those he tries to usurp.

Staub's film also benefits from a subtle musical score by Kevin Matley and some beautiful images captured by Minka Farthing-Cole's camera that plays on iconic Western cinematography.

As feature debuts go, Staub makes a pretty good case that his is a filmmaking talent that is worth nurturing.

However his biggest achievement is bringing to international attention a tradition that is uniquely Philadelphian and worthy of its place in the city's movie folklore as much as Jon G Avildsen's 'Rocky' and Jonathan Demme's 'Philadelphia'.

'Concrete Cowboy' will hopefully help preserve a way of life in the City of Brotherly Love.

If it achieves that, then that will be one hell of a legacy.

('Concrete Cowboy' received its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2020 and was made available for streaming on Netflix on April 2, 2021)

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