Skateboarding tends to attract the rebels of the world—the outcasts, the iconoclasts, the freaks, the weirdos, the kids with no dads, and the kids who don’t fit in with their families or their communities. For the director and cinematographer of “Minding the Gap,” skateboarding is more than just a cool hobby or a way to hang out with friends. It’s an escape, a metaphor and an art form. And “Minding the Gap” is director Bing Liu’s love letter to skateboarding.
Liu uses footage that he’s gathered over 12 years of filming himself and his friends skate around Rockford, Illinois. He’s a sensitive and lanky skater who silently glides behind the others, capturing every kickflip and frontside nosegrind as it happens, later editing them into a seamless montage of balletic grace along worn-out curbs, handrails and boulevards. Like graffiti, it’s the ultimate act of rebellion, because it re-appropriates property, both public and private, to be the raw material for art and resistance.
As the movie progresses, it becomes painfully clear that “Minding the Gap” is no “Jackass”-like romp into the world of juvenile delinquency, but an unflinching, angst-ridden examination of the culture of abusive fathers. From Keire Johnson’s own stern disciplinarian of a father to Liu’s sadistic stepdad and his enabling mother, “Minding the Gap” meditates deeply on the causes and effects of failed fatherhood. For this depth and beauty, the movie won the 2018 Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking.
When ringleader Zack Mulligan and his girlfriend welcome their baby son into the world, he struggles mightily with the challenges of adulthood. He batters his girlfriend, abandons the baby, abuses drugs and runs off to the big city, where he can remain in a state of arrested development. Despite his actions, his willingness to be present and share in the inner workings of his mind show the viewers how hard it is to be a father.
After 12 years, the three young men grow up and apart, each pursuing brotherhood outside of the early camaraderie of their skate crew. The gap from youth to adulthood has been crossed, but they still remember the good times. Like Johnson says: “You put together all of these moments, and you make it seem like it was the best time ever.”
“Minding the Gap” is now streaming on Hulu. Run time: 93 minutes.
