August 31, 2018 11:35 am
Holding the #1 spot for best-reviewed film of 2018 for two consecutive weeks, Minding the Gap opens its 2-week Chicago theatrical run at the Gene Siskel Film Center tonight, August 31, at 8pm.
Pre-screening reception begins at 7pm. Purchase tickets here.
The film is 100% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and touts a 100% Audience Score as well. Since its award-winning Sundance premiere in January, the film's garnered 30 festival awards and been named a New York Times Critic's pick –– A. O. Scott deeming it, "astonishing... a rich, devastating essay on race, class and manhood in 21st-century America."
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune counts the film as, "one of the strongest achievements of the movie year." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times calls it, "extraordinary...the score by Nathan Halpern and Chris Ruggiero is sparse and beautiful and perfect. The editing is brilliant."
Watch the trailer.
Interviews with Bing Liu
- A conversation with Bing Liu about his documentary 'Minding the Gap' – Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune
- An interview with Bing Liu about his powerful documentary 'Minding the Gap' – Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader
- How 'Minding the Gap' Embraces Skateboarding's Vulnerable Side' – Ben Schamisso, Newsy
Praise for Minding the Gap:
"Extraordinary... Minding the Gap is an essay that never feels like an essay, an intelligent and compassionate grappling with some of the most painful issues presently haunting the body politic: toxic masculinity and domestic violence, economic depression and a deep, existential despair."
– Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
"There isn't a word of explicit politics in the film, but Liu's confrontation with abuse and trauma as a way of confronting its unconscious legacy, of changing one's own behavior and improving one's own life and the lives of one's own family and friends, is an essentially and crucially political act."
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker
"An extraordinary feat of filmmaking... Liu's intimacy with his subjects becomes contagious, to the point where their small victories are thrilling and their failures feel devastating."
– Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic
"Heartbreaking, raw, and true"
– Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
"A powerful film about escaping the loop of poverty and toxic masculinity in Rust Belt America"
– Anna Menta, Newsweek
"A documentary with an angry undercurrent, it’s also an affectionate study of Mr. Liu’s longtime, hardcore skateboarding friends—each of whom is trying to map a course from mangled childhood to unsteady maturity. As such, it possesses an intimacy that could never be acquired without years of shared experience, and heartache. And probably road rash."
– John Anderson, Wall Street Journal
"A powerful saga"
– David Edelstein, Vulture
"What starts as a raucous celebration of youthful freedom consciously expands to cover the bonds of friendship, racial identity, the hard slog of being responsible, and the generational after-effects of trauma."
– Robert Abele, The Wrap
"Liu creates an unforgettable film experience that will knock the wind out of you."
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"A raw portrait of trauma and catharsis, and an affecting example of how non-fiction cinema can be a vehicle for genuine empathy."
– Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
"Bing's movie stands out for the complexity of its integrity, and its ability to reveal his own experiences empathically."
– K. Austin Collins, Vanity Fair
Find all upcoming screenings here.