Television review Skating Out of Family Hell – Bing Liu made a personal documentary about his tough circle of friends and won an Oscar

Culture|Television review

One obvious benchmark is Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, which tracked the boy’s growth for 12 years. But in Minding the Gap, the reality of the working class is harsher than that of the middle class.

At the beginning of boys skating on the streets among traffic seems dangerous. It was described Bing Liu – from the skateboard itself. Skateboarding with the camera has probably been an even more demanding performance than the guys.

Bing is itself one of the documentaries Minding the Gap (USA 2018) of the main characters. The other two are his friends Keire and Zack. Bing filmed the film for a total of 12 years. The earliest shots are of boys skating home video clips. In the end, they are over twenty.

Because the director is one of the characters he grows up in the film like the others. At first, Bing just photographed his friends. Gradually, he began to develop his technique, inspired by professional skate videos.

Eventually, in his twenties, Liu decided to make a documentary that turned deeper than just skateboarding.

Skating is a threesome obsession. Gradually, it is beginning to be revealed that it is also an escape, both a reason to disappear from home and to get rid of thoughts of problems.

All three come from violent homes. Keire’s father and Bing’s stepfather beat them, and Zack’s parents fight each other. Zack repeats the twist in his own relationship, drinks hard, and quarrels fiercely with his girlfriend.

Statistically, it’s not very surprising that three friends share a similar family background. They live in Rockford, Illinois, where violence, and domestic violence in particular, is exceptionally common.

The traditional industrial city in the rust zone has suffered from unemployment and migration losses. Under those conditions, social problems sprout easily.

By the end of the documentary, Zack already has his own family. She repeats a familiar cycle of violence in her own childhood home in her own relationship, gets drunk and quarrels fiercely with her girlfriend. The son Elliot is in the skate park. Picture: Yle

Bing Liu keep the perspective closely in the trio of guys. In addition to them, Zack’s girlfriend comes to the fore NinaBing ‘s mother Mengyue and Keire ‘s mother Roberta.

Born in China in 1989, Bing Liu came to the United States with her parents at the age of five. He received an honorable mention for his debut at the Sundance Festival, including the prestigious Grierson and Peabody Awards, and an Oscar nomination.

Bing itself appears relatively little in the pictures. It’s not just because he’s filmed his documentary himself. At first, he was going to opt out of the film.

But now Minding the Gapissa has the same autobiographical intimacy as, say Anu Kuivalainen Orphans at Christmas (1994), which is a classic of personal documentary.

Another obvious benchmark is Richard Linklaterin drama Boyhood (2014), which also monitored the son’s growth for 12 years. But Minding the Gapissa the reality of the working class is harsher than that of the middle class.

Minding the Gap, Theme at 9.45 pm and Yle Areena.