93 minute running time … a documentary filmed over many years about three boys who lived in Rockford, IL and rode skateboards … the filmmaker, Bing Liu, used a lot of early footage that he had shot when they were in their middle teens … Zack is a pretty white boy and talented skater … Keire is a charming black boy and very talented skater … Bing is ethnically Chinese and mostly behind the camera … all three kids are sort of on the edge of poverty, sort of clinging to middle class respectability, I found the class aspect interesting. They were also all “abused” in the sense that they were beaten by their fathers, in Bing’s case, by his white step-father. Making the movie was a form of therapy for Bing, I guess.

One thing that wasn’t really focused on was their drug use … Zack and Keire sounded like potheads, I assume they both smoked a lot of weed whereas Bing didn’t, and Bing went on to become a filmmaker whereas Zack and Keire are living more marginal existences. Anyway, it was sort of interesting (a Criterion release after all) and had some great skateboarding footage. I didn’t hate it.