“This device cures heartbreak” is written on the underside of a skateboard. How much that is true is one of the themes examined in Oscar-nominated “Minding the Gap,” an Oscar-nominated documentary about a group of skateboarders from a depressed side of town in Rockford, Illinois, where 47 percent earn $15 or less an hour and a fourth of all crime is domestic.
What these boys have in common is a desire to escape, and tricky skateboarding, requiring transcendent attention, provides just that.
The problem is when these fellows come of age and find they haven’t prepared themselves for meaningful employment. How can they support themselves? (CONTINUED)