Minding the Gap

source: Minding the Gap

These guys are a bunch of bums, I hate to say it, but they are. I felt their pain and the horrible home lives they had to deal with - THAT has affected them all terribly. I get it. But... There is absolutely NO damn excuse for them being ADULTS and avoiding growing tf up! They dont want to work, they drink and smoke, the one is abusive,, and all they want to do is skate?! In your teens - cool. As an adult who needs to accept responsibility for your life - nah, these are BUMS. The black kid actually learned to deal with vid pain...and I respect that most. The guy making the doc really got to his pain by confronting his mom - that was heartbreaking. But the other guy...the one with the baby - BUM!

I'll keep it short and sweet. This film touched me deep. It hit on so much from my childhood and into adulthood that I couldn't help but connect. I hope it takes every Oscar it's up for.

Watch this film before watching Mid 90s. Then, watch it again after watching Mid 90s. I love this film! I liked Mid 90s, and I do think it was well written and directed by Jonah Hill. Having already seen Minding the Gap before Mid 90s, it almost seemed like Mid 90s was based on Minding the Gap. The characters in Mid 90s are given more conflict, the main character is a cute kid and is also given an interesting storyline, However, you can't beat the reality of the real story in Minding the Gap. My favorite is Keire because of his laughter that underlies everything he says even when he is talking about sad stuff. I found myself hoping he would never lose that trait. I wanted to see more of him in the future so I could see if he kept it. The perspective presented through the lens of Bing Liu, the director,and filmmaker, is so intelligently done. It feels like you are watching something that was deeply important to Bing Liu, and through it he was able to tell a story of people who may have never been noticed, show us their importance, while releasing himself from his own pain.

Bing Liu's "Minding the Gap", currently nominated for Best Documentary Feature, looks at some young men who are into skateboarding as an escape from their dead-end lives. These guys are really into it, but at the same time we see that their existences are stuck in a rut. They spend a lot of time drinking - and I mean large quantities of beer - and getting into arguments with people. It's as if there's no incentive to aspire to anything in this miserable world. Anyway, a fine documentary. The director takes an incisive look at these men whom he's known for years. I recommend it.

Forget Mid 90s...THIS is the neo-skate video that announces the emergence of an intense and beautiful filmmaking voice. Using 12 years of home-video-turned-professional footage, we watch how three American teens respond to the cyclical nature of toxic masculinity.

At a recent film screening Q/A session, Bing Liu (directed and wrote the documentary) discussed his inspiration. In his talk with the interviewer, the topic of skateboarding as a white middle-class past time was mentioned and how lower economic youth are now embracing it. He discussed what "tropes" he used within the chosen style of documenting his friends' personal narratives. Liu's documentary efforts tried to showcase a small circle of childhood friends, each has an opportunity to tell their story of teen angst. Most of these stories are based in Rockford, Illinois, it described only briefly, as an abandoned small city. Their suburban problems based within classism and domestic violence. Although one can appreciate the human narrative, Liu could have delved into "why" Rockford has evolved into most low economic and disadvantaged place (as stated in the film's beginning). Instead, it uses the topic of skateboarding as a way that these young adults as teens dealt with problems (this is probably why the film has gotten popular). Since one may think that skateboarding is the main focus, it seems to work as a marketing tool to get the film screened. In the end, this is a nice baby-step but again Liu could have delved into the "why" Rockford teens went through issues of class, gender and race, maybe he has a plan to make a follow-up.

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.

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.

Honestly I didn't find this sort of movie meaning skaters to be my type of documentary. But I love a great thought provoking documentary. It's brilliant and beautiful in so many ways. I totally recommend watching.