A film that opens with some fantastic skateboarding shots, but very quickly transitions to much heavier themes in the troubled lives of the skateboarders. The three young men, including director Bing Liu, live in Rockford, Illinois and all come from broken homes. The documentary covers a lot of ground - parental and spousal abuse, race, class, coming of age, growing apart, and trying to find one's place in the world. The cyclical nature of things like violence and being a part of the working poor is on display, as is the angst of making mistakes in life that can't be fixed - in one case, from Liu's mother, who married a man who abused him. I really felt for Liu and Keire Johnson, his acquaintance with such a friendly personality despite the things he's been through.
The film is made in a sensitive, non-judgmental way, so it pains me to say this, but Zack Mulligan is much harder to like because I saw him more as a victim of his own choices, and while mocking those who live a conventional life, doing things like hitting his girlfriend and abandoning his son. The end credits, while of some interest, seemed a little artificial in their cheeriness, and I think it was a mistake to make it appear as though the three young men were friends over the decade or so that we see. Bing Liu has a lot of promise and this documentary was engaging, but I'm not sure it truly found itself in the narrative of trauma and abuse, maybe because of how organically the project came together. Would love to see more from him though.
The film is made in a sensitive, non-judgmental way, so it pains me to say this, but Zack Mulligan is much harder to like because I saw him more as a victim of his own choices, and while mocking those who live a conventional life, doing things like hitting his girlfriend and abandoning his son. The end credits, while of some interest, seemed a little artificial in their cheeriness, and I think it was a mistake to make it appear as though the three young men were friends over the decade or so that we see. Bing Liu has a lot of promise and this documentary was engaging, but I'm not sure it truly found itself in the narrative of trauma and abuse, maybe because of how organically the project came together. Would love to see more from him though.