Carpet Cowboys (2023)

Just guys being dudes being cowboys being carpet salesmen being victims of the American Dream being too repressed to notice.

Brokeback Mountain, but make it carpet. That Scottish cowboy was totally gay with his best friend, right? I’m just saying.

I love these weirdo, niche, slice of life documentaries about subcultures I’ve never heard of - the weird intense drama, the lore from within, the characters who take it all so seriously. Carpet Cowboys delivered.

This movie has a lot to say about the American Dream, or what’s left of it. These guys are hustlers chasing a version of success that feels increasingly hollow, performing cowboy masculinity while selling floor coverings. Roderick James is a pathetic, sad, closeted man, and the documentary doesn’t shy away from that.

The footage of the factory really vibed with me. It reminded me of the title sequence to Twin Peaks - sad, lonely machinery whirring away by itself in a dark and depressing industrial warehouse. There’s something deeply American about that image.

I do wish they’d pulled the scope out a little more and dug deeper into the industry itself. But what’s here is fun and strange and melancholy. A good hang with weird dudes.

Also on Letterboxd