Minding the Gap

The first ten minutes or so of this didn't exactly fill me with confidence. I watched three young American lads obsess about their skateboarding and I couldn't really have cared less. Then director/participator Bing Liu takes us on a slightly unexpected and really quite potent behind the scenes look at just who these men are. What made them what they were at the start of the film - teenagers from a town where potential and opportunity weren't exactly plentiful, and then guide us through their years of their early adulthood. The significance of the skating now largely wanes away and what we are left with is an observation of three people who are each, in their own ways, victims of varying degrees of parental neglect or abuse. Now older, we witness them struggle to reconcile the sometimes quite problematic relationships with their own parents whilst building lives for themselves; their partners and even with one of their own children and we see a gradual fracturing of their hitherto intense inter-reliance. One of them - Zack - shows signs that the apple never falls to far from the tree. He is a bright, engaging but temperamentally erratic man who appreciates that his behaviour towards his girlfriend is unacceptable, even violent. It's not so straightforward, though, as there emerges a certain poignant, pitiable, helplessness to his behaviour. He isn't evil or dangerous, per se, he is just incapable of controlling his temper. His girlfriend - who ought to have run a mile on several occasions with their child, still insists on cutting him some slack acknowledging that there are upsides to their relationship, too. She is also a victim, and you do have to wonder about the impact on the infant as this emotional turbulence shows little indication of stabilising. We also takes a look at what passes for modern-day masculinity and compare it with that of previous generations in quite an effective and exposing, bullying, fashion. If I'm honest, I can't say I liked these folks much, but somehow I was surprisingly drawn into a story of people being a product of their own society - even if they adamantly insist they are individuals doing their own distinct thing. It is perhaps a little long, but still delivers quite a revealing look at prevailing and often uncompromising levels of gender-driven toxicity that does, somewhat counterintuitively, engender a degree of sympathy and maybe even understanding.