The best documentaries have a way of taking any subject and finding a way to explore the recesses of humanity contained within. While it may appear to be a skateboarding documentary from the outside, Bing Liu’s directorial debut Minding the Gap transcends such confining distinctions to deliver a devastating examination of the cycles of violence that can plague any community. With footage from over a decade of capturing himself and his friends on film, Liu was able to craft a very personal story that somehow manages to stay objective even in the most uncomfortable of situations. Released in 2018, the film chronicles the lives of three teenage skaters in Rockford, Illinois who we see contending with all that life has to throw at them right before our eyes. While many documentarians attempt to limit their direct participation in their films, Liu realized early on that his story was not so different to those of his friends and his involvement would bring about a much-needed intimacy to the film. This tactic paid off as the film has remained a critical favorite since its release and even secured a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards. Previously exclusive to Hulu, The Criterion Collection has given this incredible film the proper 5-star treatment it deserves.
Liu has been capturing footage of his friends and his life for many years, but it took a while to see a clear path to what would become of any of it. What started out as an exploration of the lives of skateboarders around the country was soon given a more defined shape when he kept hearing about the prevalence of trauma within his community of friends, especially when it came to the absent fathers in their lives. The three main subjects that the film follows are Keire Johnson, Zack Mulligan and Liu himself. Skateboarding is often cited as the primary way these figures are able to escape from the troubles of the world. From the opening moments of the film, you see these young men flying down parking garages and soaring down Illinois streets against the setting of the sun. They appear almost weightless as they take part in one of the consistently good things in their lives. It is when Liu takes a break from showing awe-inspiring tricks and carefree skatepark hangouts that you have the time to really understand what is going on with these characters.
Perhaps the most dynamic member of the trio is Zach, a guy who believes he needs to be the life of the party in order for people to want him around. Zach presents as very wild and charming, but there is a lot of repressed pain and darkness within him from his own tough upbringing. The fun-loving Zach is only given a brief amount of time to establish himself before reality comes crashing down. Zach has just become a dad himself with his girlfriend Nina, and the inexperience both of them have with this kind of responsibility leads to some very contentious arguments. Zach is a bit of a doofus, but generally seems like someone who is good at his core. This is what makes it all the more shocking as you get further into the problems that arise between him and Nina, culminating in an audio recording of an unhinged Nina that she claims was preceded by physical abuse at the hands of Zach. It is at this point that you realize that Liu is not looking to betray the trust of the audience, as he does not try to cover up any potential horrific actions of one of his best friends. His presence is felt as a sympathetic ear, but he presents the narrative without editorializing.
Keire, one of the younger members of the group, lights up the room with his infectious smile, but at home he struggles with taking care of his mother and trying to better his life through menial jobs. Many stories are told about Keire crashing on various couches during his turbulent upbringing, and he still struggles with losing his father at a relatively young age. One of the most heartbreaking exchanges in the film is when Liu points out that skateboarding often hurts him to which Keire responds, “Yeah, but so did my dad, and I loved him to death.” Keire finds it difficult to get away from the pain in his family. His mom is seen with a hateful off-screen boyfriend barking at her when she is trying to give an interview, and his older brother is revealed late in the movie to have stolen his savings. As Liu points out in the commentary, there is a subtle detail that Keire has a deadbolt on his door for when he is out of the house that goes to highlight just how unsafe he feels in his own home. Out of everyone in the film, Keire is the person that you see struggling the most with the biggest potential to better his life.
It is the journey that Liu takes that brings the story home. After hearing about all of the horrible things that have happened to Keire, he shares the depth of his empathy by revealing that he has been the victim of similar circumstances. Early on in the film, his brother takes the audience on a guided tour through the house where he discusses some of the tough moments from their childhood. The interesting thing about this exercise is that some of these stories come as a surprise to Bing himself. The notable thing about trauma is that your brain actively works to protect you which results in repressed memories. The culmination of his journey is confronting his mother on camera about the abuse he was subjected to as a teenager. This is not a malicious exercise meant to exploit his mom – he does love her – but it is a necessary step in their relationship that will get them on the journey to healing. This scene is pulsing with unease and tension, but the emotional devastation is cathartic for both Liu and the audience. With as much time as we spend with Liu as our surrogate, you really want him to just be okay.
Minding the Gap is both extremely joyous and soul crushing in equal measure. The latter is not a bad quality in the slightest, as through this pain you experience moments of transcendent beauty. If you are lucky, you get to experience maybe one or two films a year that makes you feel like you have learned something about the human condition. When this happens, you feel lighter than air just like these skateboarders as they are gliding through life. It is a terrible truth that violence begets violence, especially in the home, but these issues have to be addressed or they are doomed to continue. Even smaller issues such as cultural insensitivity pop up within the film, such as when the hopeful Keire feels ripped apart when his white friends thoughtlessly put him in the position of being the lone black person in the group through their behavior. This movie is rich with depth and allows you into the lives of these fascinating figures. You may not always agree with what the subjects are doing on screen, but you are always learning something from their actions. Bing Liu has not only created one of the strongest documentaries of the last few years, but one of the best films period.
Video Quality
Minding the Gap comes to Blu-Ray in its original 1.78:1 from a high definition master approved by director Bing Liu. The film features a lot of different material in varying degrees of quality. The more modern footage looks as technically excellent as it can look in high definition. The transfer appears to have plenty of room to breathe and there are no issues with compression artifacts, banding or other digital nuisances. The vintage footage that Liu shot when he was younger seems to be the best version of it that would be possible, with most of it looking pretty excellent. Interview segments look incredibly sleek and clear with natural skin tones and detailed facial features. The colors featured in the film are natural and vibrant as they provide a nice visual pop on screen. Black levels are appropriately deep and give way to a nice amount of detail in shadows. I do not see how this set could have been improved visually. It’s a beautiful transfer handled with care by The Criterion Collection
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a stellar DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that captures this story perfectly. Dialogue is the driving force of the film, and it comes through crisp and clear without being clipped by any competing sounds. Liu does a really great job of capturing his subjects and making sure all this information comes through with supreme clarity. The music and the score is incredibly important to the film, and those sounds are resolved well here as music often swells to fill the room. The chatter in the public locations they chose to film in provides a nice base texture to the proceedings. Ambient sounds from nature are precisely placed in the rear channels. The audio track is not pushed to the limit with this content, but it nonetheless proves to be an excellent sounding presentation for this feature.
Special Features
The Criterion Blu-Ray of Minding the Gap includes a foldout booklet featuring the essay “What It’s About” by New York Times writer Jay Caspian Kang in which he provides a great amount of context and insight into the film that helps highlight the deeper themes on display. The on-disc special features are as follows:
- Commentary #1: Keire Johnson, Zack Mulligan and Bing Liu remotely recorded this commentary in October 2020 that is very free-flowing and more like a hangout between friends filled with lots of reminiscing and thoughts about what they have experienced since the film’s release. One of the most interesting moments is when Keire does not let Zack off the hook concerning some of the troubling accusations in the film. Bing also uses this as an opportunity to dig a bit deeper with his friends, which makes this an amazing addition to the narrative. Keire is very open to exploring his emotions further, while Zack is very much not.
- Commentary #2: Director and subject Bing Liu recorded a commentary track in October 2020 that is rich with technical and historical details about the production of the film. Bing gives insight into how he went about constructing the narrative and what it was like convincing certain subjects to be interviewed on camera. It is also very interesting to hear him give his impressions or additional background information on events that take place in the film away from the judgement of anyone else.
- A Very Tricky Balance: A 33-minute featurette in which Bing Liu, Executive Producer Gordon Quinn, and Producer Diane Quon discuss the development of the film including Bing’s journey to finding a home for the film, how they honed in on what storylines they wanted to follow, subjects who were omitted from the film, the ethical questions raising in the filmmaking process, the editing process, balancing the artistic needs with the personal and more. This is really well done and incredibly informative.
- Nina and Bing: A 17-minute interview filmed remotely in 2020 in which director Bing Liu revisits the experience of the film with one of the subjects of the film, Nina Bowgren. Nina catches Bing up on how her life has been since the film, discusses her Korean heritage, her relationship with Zack, what it was like filming the documentary, distancing herself from her past and more. It is really satisfying knowing that she is in a better place these days.
- Tony Hawk: A 12-minute interview with pro skateboarder Tony Hawk in which he shares his appreciation for the film including how it captures the spirit of skateboarding, how it differs from other “skateboarding films,” how it impacted him as a parent, his relationship with some of the subjects in the film and more. This is a really thoughtful conversation and great addition to the disc.
- Outtakes: Twenty-one minutes of unused material comprising four scenes with introductions from Bing Liu. These scenes include a trip with Nina and Max to the hospital to give birth to Elliott, a father-son skateboarding pair, and two scenes with Keire as he makes his way out of Rockford. All of these are really entertaining and worth checking out.
- Nuoc: A 23-minute documentary short film directed by Bing Liu from 2010 in which he follows two young Vietnamese immigrants as they recount their experiences in America. The stark differences in culture and how that impacted their development are rich topics for exploration, and Bing shows early signs of his talent behind the camera.
- Trailer: A wonderful minute-and-a-half trailer is provided here that provides a good encapsulation of what you get from the film.
Final Thoughts
Minding the Gap is the type of documentary that permeates your core upon every viewing. Director Bing Liu does a masterful job of letting you into the lives of the characters without setting them up to be infallible. The maliciousness of domestic abuse has far-reaching effects, and this is a film that gets that message across in the most incredible manner. The Criterion Collection has released a fantastic new Blu-Ray with a top-notch A/V presentation and some special features that are not to be missed. In a decade that has had a particularly strong run of documentary filmmaking, this stands out as one of the best. Highly Recommended
The Criterion Collection edition of Minding the Gap will be available to purchase on January 12, 2021 on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: The Criterion Collection has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
