"The Place Beyond The Pines" - Review

Directed by: Derek Cianfrance

Written by: Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder

Release Date: March 29, 2013 (limited)

Review by: Sean Kayden

I really wanted to love “The Place Beyond The Pines.” It had all the ingredients to become a classic. This includes starring two of the most talked about actors in the game right now, Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper. It’s from up and coming director, Derek Cianfrance, who in 2010 wowed critics and audiences alike with his sophomore feature film, “Blue Valentine.” However, I wasn’t the biggest fan of that movie, but admired the way it was shot and acted. With “The Place Beyond The Pines,” Cianfrance takes the ambitious route of focusing on three separate stories that are all linked together over the span of fifteen years. The problem with this is how jarring it becomes when the story would shift directions. One act dedicated to Gosling’s character, Luke Glanton, a motorcycle stunt driver who decides to rob banks as a means to provide for his son, who he just discovers exists. The second act has a focal point on Bradley Cooper’s character, Avery Cross, a rookie cop moving up in the ranks in a corrupt department. Lastly, in the least compelling tale, the final act is between both main characters’ sons fifteen years later. Cianfrance is a wizard behind the camera, as this is a gorgeously shot movie. However, within the two hours and twenty minutes running time, “The Place Beyond The Pines” suffers from episodic storylines (the ones we’ve all seen before) and barely touches the surface on the multifaceted themes it’s hastily trying to validate.

While Gosling’s character Luke is hypnotizing in the first story (with many similarities from his character in “Drive”), his storyline isn’t as deep as I was hoping for. His estranged ex-lover played by Eva Mendes comes back into his life and Luke finds out he has a son. Before this, all we know about Luke is that he’s the leader of a traveling act of acrobatic motorcyclists named “Handsome Luke and The Heartthrobs.” When the news of a son is revealed, Luke decides to quit his job and find a way to provide for his son. He teams up with a local mechanic and soon finds himself enthralled with the life of a bank robber. For a brief time, he’s able to provide for his son, but things quickly escalate out of control. I can empathize with Gosling’s character to support his son, but the whole robbing banks storyline seems outdated and stodgy. I understand there’s a deeper meaning behind the surface—a father doing whatever it takes for his family for one. However this compulsion to commit crimes (with no inclination to hurt anyone) gets the best of Luke and ends in a collision course with police officer Avery Cross. By the time we get a better sense of Luke, his story comes to a swift conclusion. It feels more like a high production short film than one-third of an epic feature film.

Bradley Cooper’s character Avery Cross is a rookie cop that crosses path with Luke. Without giving any way spoilers, Cross is thrown into the limelight in the media. Cross gets mixed up with some corrupt cops and has decisions to make. He too wants to provide for his family, but ultimately chooses right over wrong despite what rewards are tied with wrong doings. This sequence is actually quite compelling even if it’s something we’ve all seen before. Cooper’s character feels incomplete because what happens later on in the film makes him only concern with himself and not his family. I don’t understand why this occurs especially when you think he’s a good man and father. It’s another dynamic to the family theme that’s explored, but with most of the themes they only touch the outer surface and rarely get as deep as you’d hope.

The final act is geared toward Avery’s 17 year-old son, AJ, moving in with him and Jason (Luke’s son, who is initially lied to about who his father was). The two boys, unbeknownst about each other’s past, form a friendship due to a ridiculous coincidence. While the film has significant circumstances that occur, they rely heavily on coincidences. If you can get past this, “The Place Beyond The Pines” has some worth to it. I much rather have seen the first two acts extended and the elimination of the third story. In spite of this, the filmmakers’ intentions were to tie the story with the sons because an additional theme to the story is fathers and sons. There’s nothing quite as powerful as the relationship a son has with one’s own father. However, the kids aren’t as compelling as both Gosling and Cooper. Cooper’s son AJ feels out of place. You come to realize how could his son turn out the way he is, but I suppose anything can happen during teenage adolescence. Jason, Luke’s son, is lost and lonely. It seems utterly coincidental that now in his life he’s curious to whom his real dad is. The final twenty minutes tries desperately to connect the layered stories together. While “The Place Beyond The Pines” is ambitious to a fault, I think there are just too many half-baked ideas strung together to appear as something deeply profound and substantial. It’s extremely dense film, but Derek Cianfrance is a filmmaker to watch out for because he knows how to get his actors to deliver strong performances. He’s also a terrific director that may benefit more from an outsider’s screenplay rather than his own. I don’t want to see Cianfrance continuously get high on his own supply because perhaps he may shine the most when bringing another story to life that isn’t as close to him but will be once he puts his signature touch on it. In the end, “The Place Beyond The Pines” is a sweeping, cinematic movie going experience with solid acting, beautifully shot sequences and great direction. At the same token it unfortunately falls apart in the end leaving you with a feeling of emptiness rather than fulfillment of any kind.

Grade: 3 out of 5 

Published by Mountain Views News on April 20th, 2013
http://mtnviewsnews.com/v07/htm/n16/p14.htm