Creativity often feels elusive. Even people who consider themselves creative can feel that their creative “well” has run dry. Others might not think they’re creative at all. But the truth is, everyone can be creative, so long as they stay curious and observant. Which brings us to John Wilson.
How to With John Wilson doesn’t feel like an HBO prestige show. Each episode uses guerrilla footage and interviews from the streets of New York City to tell a “how to” story—like how to learn to be spontaneous or “How to Improve Your Memory.”
Wilson’s episodes never take a straight line—his general curiosity (and his refusal to turn off his camera) allows the world to unfold around him in an intricate web, creating a short vignette, or poem, instead of forcing a single storyline.
This leads to moments of voyeuristic transcendence, like a room of men fighting with lightsabers, or Twin Peaks star Kyle Maclachlan struggling to scan his MetroCard pass.
“How to Cook the Perfect Risotto”, for example, starts with an earnest attempt to prepare a nice meal for Wilson’s elderly landlord. His failure to master the recipe leads to a ski outing to get over a nicotine addiction, a helicopter ride to try to burst a bag of potato chips at a high altitude, and ends with the narrator returning to New York City at the beginning of the March 2020 lockdown.
Wilson eventually (and safely) makes a passable dinner for his landlord once he realizes that the risotto is enough—there is no such thing as a “perfect” risotto, just a perfect gesture.
These journeys aren’t planned: they’re the end results of Wilson’s propensity for documenting the everyday and making it profound.
The wild journeys of Wilson’s show are fueled by his curiosity and earnestness to engage with the world around him. By scrutinizing your environment, and letting it take you on a journey, you too can find creativity that might surprise you. It’s remarkable how many strange, fascinating, and beautiful moments you might discover if you just take a moment to look around and ask yourself “how to?”
Jeff GoodSmith Writes Here 