Minding the Gap (2018) – Review

The first idea you might get when you see the poster for this documentary is that it is a film about skating. A topic about which interesting documentaries have been made (Dogtown and Z-Boys), but that’s not what Minding the Gap is. Bing Liu is a skater who, within his circle of friends, is the one who has enjoyed filming and editing everything from an early age. From the start of their teens, the boys spend every moment they can skating and therefore have a close bond. They grow up together, but as they age, the mutual dynamics begin to change. What starts as a skate film develops to more than that during the running time. A journey of discovery that is not only about finding your own purpose in life, but also dealing with the past and knowing how to handle that.

These friends have all experienced difficult moments in their childhood and they have come to an age where they think and talk more about it. Keire lost his father at a relatively young age and prefers not to be home because he cannot get along well with his mother’s dominant boyfriend. He tries to earn enough money to be independent. Zach is the wild one of the group, who has just become a father, but is constantly arguing with his girlfriend Nina, who is a mother at an age she still wants to party a lot. Bing himself interviews his brother and mother about the difficult time he had in his youth, in which he was constantly scared.

  Liu succeeds in weaving all these moments together in such a way that you hear everyone’s side of the story and at the same time see what the similarities are and how these friends slowly learn more about each other (even though they have known each other for years). This results in a number of very emotional moments and the realization that how you live and with whom you interact changes as you get older. Minding the Gap is a very well-made and impactful documentary.

[score8]