Minding The Gap

Synopsis

Comparisons to Richard Linklater’s poetic coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014) are fitting yet inadequate in gesturing toward the boundless exuberance and bottomless depth of feeling awaiting viewers of the Sundance sensation Minding the Gap. Shot by first-time filmmaker Bing Liu over five years, this Rust Belt documentary begins by showing a trio of teenage skateboarders goofing around in their blue-collar, crime-ridden hometown of Rockford, Illinois, but quickly takes the viewer on a ride as perilous as any freestyle maneuver or high-flying trick in their arsenal. Focusing on Bing’s childhood friends Zack and Keire, survivors of domestic abuse and broken homes, this deeply personal exploration of toxic masculinity’s effects on young men and women is kept aloft by these subjects’ infectious passion for their favorite pastime, yet remains grounded in the very real poverty and violence that make escape from such conditions difficult if not impossible. Minding the Gap not only marks the debut of a talented, wise-beyond-his-years director; someone from whom equally great work is sure to come. It also augers a new era of liberated — indeed, liberating — youth-centered documentary filmmaking.