The Place Beyond The Pines

The Place Beyond The Pines

Director:  Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine)

Stars:  Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta

The Place Beyond The Pines is a film in three parts.  The first part centers on Luke Glanton (Gosling), a circus stunt motorcycle rider.  After one of his races in Schenectady, he is visited by Romina (Mendes) and discovers that she has an infant son named Jason, and Jason is his son.  Romina has moved on and is with another man.  Luke wants to take care of Romina and Jason, or at the very least do the best he can for Jason.  He finds work as an auto mechanic, and the garage's owner suggests robbing banks as a way of making money.

Luke winds up in trouble with the law, and part two centers around the police officer involved with the aftermath of one of Luke's bank robberies.  Bradley Cooper plays Avery Cross, and Avery is hailed as a hero for his actions after a bank robbery, but Avery turns from being a hero to being party to police corruption.  During this time and during the third part of the film, Avery has difficulty connecting with his son AJ.  The third part is set 15 years in the future, and Avery and his wife have divorced, and he has political aspirations, which leads to him still not being much of a part of AJ's life.

Meanwhile, Luke's son is also having identity issues, as he never really got to know Luke, and his mom never told him much about him.  Luke and AJ become acquainted in high school, and their identity issues are explored and come to a crescendo in the film's third part.

The first two parts of The Place Beyond The Pines are first rate in terms of story, performance, and overall mood.  Gosling's performance is a stellar portrayal of persistence and then desperation and despair.  Ben Mendelsohn is the film's only comic relief as the garage owner/accomplice.  Bradley Cooper's character is a blank slate, a hero (especially in comparison to Luke), but Cooper is excellent as an ambitious policeman who falls in with the wrong crowd in the police force and tries to do the right thing.  It's also good to see a very menacing Ray Liotta, who is a squirmy presence throughout the second part.

The third part is the weak link, as more time is spent with Luke and Avery's sons.  Emory Cohen plays a high school stoner, and Cohen's performance is kind of distracting.  He plays AJ with a permanent sneer and mumble, and when he and Jason (Dane DeHaan) get together, the film becomes pretty monosyllabic and a little tedious.

Overall, The Place Beyond The Pines is worth recommending.  Cianfrance does an excellent job of storytelling for most of the film.  The film is suspenseful and unpredictable, and the mood is set with deft use of light and sound.

Rating:  8 out of 10 (worth checking out in the theater)