Bing Liu lives in Rockford, Illinois. He has two friends he met through skateboarding: Keire Johnson and Zack Mulligan. As they reach adulthood Zack becomes a father and leaves off skateboarding in order to become a roofer and support his family. Keire feels pressure to grow up as well and takes a menial job as a dishwasher. Over the course of the film all three friends reveal that they grew up in abusive homes. Zack and his partner Nina begin to have difficulties in their relationship and Bing learns that Zack has been abusive towards Nina. A venture to create an indoor skatepark falls apart and Zack is left with fewer options. Nina repeatedly leaves him. Keire becomes a waiter and focuses on trying to educate himself. He grows apart from Zack and finds himself chafing against the racism of the town which even comes from his friends. Though his father was abusive he finds himself reflecting on his father more and more after his death remembering positive ways in which his father influenced him. Zack finally separates from Nina for good and the two have a contentious relationship with Nina filing for child support after he abruptly leaves the state. He eventually returns and slides further into alcoholism struggling with how his decisions effect his young son but unable to stop. Keire finally earns enough money to move to Denver. A post-script reveals that Nina is pursuing a degree, Zack has been promoted at work and Keire has been successful in Denver pursuing both his educational goals and a career as a professional skateboarder.
Release
The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and received the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking. In June 2018, Hulu acquired the distribution rights, and it was released theatrically and on Hulu on August 17, 2018. It aired on PBS on February 18, 2019, as part of the network's POV series.
Reception
Minding the Gap is Liu's first feature film. A. O. Scott of the New York Times called it an "astonishing debut feature" and "a rich, devastating essay on race, class and manhood in 21st-century America." Sophie Gilbert of The Atlantic called it "an extraordinary feat of filmmaking." Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote that the images of skateboarding "are merely the background and context for the film," whose "substance—domestic trauma, systemic racism, and economic dislocation—is also the very stuff of society, and the near-at-hand intimacy gives rise to a film of vast scope and political depth." The film has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 107 reviews, with an average rating of 8.68/10. The site's consensus reads: "Minding the Gap draws on more than a decade of documentary footage to assemble a poignant picture of young American lives that resonates far beyond its onscreen subjects. It also holds a 90/100 average on Metacritic. Former U.S. President and Illinoisian Barack Obama cited the film as one of his favorites of 2018.
