Bing Liu has quickly become an essential filmmaker, documenting American life with humanity and empathy. Along with Chloe Zhao, he makes another Chinese-turned-American filmmaker turning a camera on middle America. This film making process is deeply personal for Liu. There is some amateur footage from his early teenage years and he has honed his craft beautifully. The visuals are striking and his storytelling ability is developed far beyond his years. In his debut, he vulnerably puts himself in the hot seat in addition to two of his friends. They know each other from their shared hobby, skating. And we come to learn that each of them skate to escape something, different problems in their home lives revolving around the same theme of domestic violence. Airing the family's dirty laundry for an audience is profoundly brave and therapeutic. You get the feeling that these kids have never talked about their problems out loud, but that being encouraged to is liberating.
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