Minding the Gap

Two really good skateboarding movies came out recently. The first one I got to see, Crystal Moselle's "Skate Kitchen", functioned as a fun semi-documentary that celebrated the friendship forged between a crew of NYC girls making their own space in a predominately male sport. The second one, Bing Liu's "Minding the Gap" took a very different approach to the subject, focusing much deeper on the pain that drove a group of three Midwestern skateboarders together, and how the same wounds would continue to dictate their life both in and outside of skateboarding. Unlike Skate Kitchen, this documentary is not an easy watch. It's by no means a boring watch, as Liu constructs a very cinematic experience both visually and emotionally, but some of the life experiences that the director focuses on can be truly devastating to anyone who has ever experienced anything similar. The characters in this film are real, and you want to see each of them succeed despite the odds stacked against them. I don't want to spoil the story too much, but I will say that there's something in this movie for everyone. It's much less a skateboarding movie than it is a movie about parenthood gone wrong and finding your way in your 20's, which I'm sure a lot of people can relate to. I hope everyone gets to see this film, and I hope everyone has a box of tissues close by.

I registered on the site to write this because I was hungover on a Sunday and looking for skateboarding videos/docs online. I used to skate and cannot now due to a back injury.

I expected something featuring tricks and skate videos, however I received an extremely emotional reaction to a brilliant documentary about real people living through very real issues I have had experienced. The film was made brilliantly and I have highly recommended this to my friends. People who skate and those who don't. A very well done piece. I grew up in the Midwest and knew the struggle of "when is the sidewalk good for skating" with the cabin fever of just wanting to pop an ollie outside.

Brilliant. Highly recommended, especially for anyone that broke out on a skateboard (bike, roller blades, etc) just to get outside when young. This doc is terrificly an underdog.

I initially struggled with my reaction to Minding The Gap. On one hand I had the impression that I didn't enjoy this film because I didn't have the reaction that many of it's fans seemed to have, which was my initial reaction to another referenced documentary from one reviewer, Hoop Dreams. Those fans talk about how they found the film 'devastating', or 'emotionally blown-away', or 'heartbreaking'. To my mind those emotions can only come from a place of sympathy or empathy. However, for me while I did have those feelings toward some of the characters in Minding The Gap, I did not feel it toward all of the characters, nor necessarily to the film as a whole. I did still find Minding The Gap wonderfully interesting, and therefor entertaining too. I am still a fan of this film and do recommend checking it out, but want to say that it's OK not to love or feel sympathy, or badly for the plight of all of it's characters.

In Rockford, Illinois, the lives three young male friends (all of different racial backgrounds) and their families are the subject of this documentary focusing on the town's history of high unemployment, financial hardship, and domestic violence and how this affects individual lives. One of the friends, Bing Liu, is also the director and interviewer of the film.

The film footage takes place over a number of years. The beginning shows the boys as teenage skateboard experts. The first impression is that this is a skateboard doc but it doesn't take long for the film to show its true depth. The testimonies of the abuse from the subjects regarding husbands / partners / fathers / step-fathers have much in common but are also unique. One of the commonalities is a phrase that has sadly been repeated, in various forms, for decades: "yes, he can be terribly mean but when he's nice, he's really so sweet". In one such case, the abuse is subtle as the voice of an unseen man gives an "order" to his female partner who is being interviewed.

The film's boldest moments include those focusing on one of the young men (Zack) who is starting to fall into this negative pattern. What he's doing is wrong but the viewer has already felt compassion for him from previous excerpts. A film-maker is at his/her best when the viewer is left with conflicting feelings such as this case.

"Minding the Gap" has many strong qualities. One is that its creator is not from the outside looking in but one of the insiders. To maintain composure and seem neutral to the history that is so close to him is remarkable. - dbamateurcritic

Minding the Gap follows the lives of three young men who share a passion for skating. It's not long until we find out that skating is a way for them to escape from their troubled home lives. This is such a deeply intimate documentary, made with a real yearning to show something to the world. Because of all the heart it was made with, everything captured is so enticing. Documentaries often feel like documentaries, that feels like quite an obvious thing to say but that is usually why a lot of people choose not to watch them. However, this film doesn't feel like a documentary, and the fact it is makes it very shocking and overwhelming at times because you are taken on such a moving journey. These are real people therefore everything we see is true, that's the obvious thing, but everything we see in Minding the Gap is raw and completely unfiltered and it's so special. It presents everything as it is and doesn't try to be a certain way which is the key as to why it is so captivating. You can't hate the characters because you know their struggle yet of course they are not perfect. I think that's why I'm starting to love documentaries like this: when you watch a film characters often fall into a good or bad category so you love them or hate them, of course cinema has a wide expanse and that includes characters so therefore we still love and identify with characters who have flaws or we love the villain because they're just so damn good. With documentaries however they are real people not trying to be like anyone or not trying to represent anything, therefore you cant love them or hate them you just accept them and digest what they have to show. It makes you learn more about the human experience, people in the world and that I think is so amazing. I don't like the term eye-opening really because it does sound kind of patronising, our eyes should be opened to everything really, but this film does make you think and will definitely stir up your emotions. Worth the watch just so so much.