CONCRETE COWBOY (2020)

Cole (Caleb McLaughlin), expelled from his Detroit high school for fighting, is dumped by his mother on his long-absent father Harp (Idris Elba) in Philadelphia. Harp is part of a (real life) black cowboy coterie operating out of ancient stables in their inner city neighborhood (Harp actually has a horse in his home). Caleb hates his old man and his new situation, but the group gradually brings him into their fold by making him muck out stables. He bonds with a wild horse and is gradually accepted. He's also tempted into the criminal life by an older friend and is nearly killed.

This is an uneven, sometimes amateurish movie, loaded with F- MF- and N-bombs, but McLaughlin is outstanding as the rebellious but decent kid who goes right. Lorraine Toussaint plays the obligatory motherly member of the group. Elba, who is in more movies than the MGM lion, is curiously ambivalent in his role. The premise is unique, and carries through to the end. Ok for one viewing.