'Concrete Cowboy' review: Extraordinarily beautiful drama

WHAT IT'S ABOUT A teenager named Cole (Caleb McLaughlin, "Stranger Things") is brought to live with his estranged dad Harp (Idris Elba), a horse trainer in Philadelphia, and swept up in the world of urban Black horsemanship in this adaptation Greg Neri's novel "Ghetto Cowboy."

Ricky Staub is the director and co-writer of "Concrete Cowboy," which is now streaming on Netflix, and the story is inspired by Philadelphia's real Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club. Co-stars include Jharrel Jerome ("When They See Us") and Clifford "Method Man" Smith.

MY SAY Here is a movie that builds an entire world in the span of one small corner of North Philadelphia, bringing to vivid life this culture of urban cowboys and the efforts of those struggling to preserve it, while providing equally apt attention to the inner journey at the core of this story.

While a less accomplished movie might have treated Harp and his fellow riders as curiosities, Staub frames them as the upholders of long-standing traditions, standing on the front lines against the advancing forces of gentrification.

The filmmaker, making his feature directorial debut, demonstrates a perceptive sense of how to fuse naturalistic filmmaking techniques with more painterly compositions. The effect is a method of storytelling that's at once relatable, in the way it portrays the bonds between these humans, and transcendent in its depiction of their connection with these horses.

There's great power in scenes of Harp, Cole and their fellow cowboys sitting around a flickering campfire light set against darkened streets, or father and son confronting each other from across Harp's living room, with the gap between seeming like it's miles wide.

McLaughlin is the linchpin of the story and a revelation here; he and Elba, who is simply one of the best actors around, construct a complex relationship that is both weighted with past heartbreak and tinged with a sense of hope and promise.

The screenplay constructs some drama around the dual influences in Cole's life; his friend Smush (Jerome) comes to represent an alternate path, as a former rider who has fallen into a life of drug dealing, and the actors smartly craft a sense of genuine friendship.

It's easy to understand how Cole might go down this path, with its promise of independence and self-sufficiency. Smush's kindness offers a powerful and seductive contrast to Harp's taciturn disciplinarian.

The visual landscape is vast. There's genuine majesty in shots of the horses being ridden across overgrown fields, captured in low angles and impressionistic backlighting that rivals any classic Western.

"The only home I've ever known is on the back of a horse," Harp says. It's a common sentiment in the world of cinema, for which the Western has long served as one of the staple genres.

But it's rarely been conveyed with as much meaning. For this father and son, mistrust evolves into respect and love, and when the characters cannot find the words, the horses speak for them.

BOTTOM LINE: This is an extraordinarily beautiful movie. Don't miss it.