The gospel according to Philip Larkin espouses that, whether they mean to or not, your parents will always f**k you up and “add some extra, just for you”.
The Place Beyond The Pines marks Derek Cianfrance out as one of the most exciting and accomplished young directors out there
Larkin’s most famous and acerbic poem, This Be The Verse, could well have been the operating manual for director Derek Cianfrance’s absorbing and operatic second feature, The Place Beyond The Pines.
The sins of the father weigh heavily on the young sons of lawless, directionless Luke (Ryan Gosling) and rookie cop Avery (Bradley Cooper), whose lives intersect in harrowing fashion and send out shock waves that reverberate years later.
Intense motorcycle stuntman Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) in The Place Beyond The Pines
Cianfrance chronicled a relationship’s happy beginnings and painful collapse in his previous feature, the acclaimed Blue Valentine, and that film’s exploration of how bad choices made with ‘good’ intentions can come back to haunt you finds a parallel in this more ambitious and superior follow-up.
The Place Beyond The Pines also sees a reunion between Cianfrance and Gosling, whose star wattage has brightened significantly since Blue Valentine, most notably as a result of 2011’s fantastic Drive. In that film Gosling played an intense stunt performer moonlighting as a getaway driver; here he plays an intense motorcycle stuntman who discovers he has a son with ex-lover Romina (Eva Mendes).
Rookie cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) must learn to live with a split-second decision in The Place Beyond The Pines
Determined not to follow his father’s example Luke vows to provide for young Jason and does so by robbing a bank, but as he gets carried away he’s warned by his friend Robin (Ben Mendelsohn): “If you’re going to ride like lightning, you’re going to crash like thunder.”
Avery, meanwhile, struggles to come to terms with the aftermath of a split-second decision made in the line of duty that gradually eats away at him. Wracked with guilt, he becomes distant from his infant son AJ and wife Jennifer (Rose Byrne) and starts listening to his district attorney father, who believes Avery should utilise the hero status he gained after that fateful decision by turning his back on the police force and entering politics.
AJ (Emory Cohen) and Jason (Dane DeHaan) in The Place Beyond The Pines
The film’s title derives from the loose English translation of the Mohawk word Schenectady, a city in upstate New York where the picture events are set. The city itself plays as big a part as its characters, who are all anchored to their surroundings and the pits they have dug for themselves.
Gosling is electrifying as the charismatic, but foolish Luke, equal parts Marlon Brando and Paul Newman. His method has been criticised in the past for being overly showy and inauthentic, but many of his critics were won over by his magnetic performance in Drive and here proves it wasn’t a one-off. Gosling does much of his acting with his piercing blue eyes, which can convey shame, self-hatred and sociopathy in the space of a single blink.
Romina (Eva Mendes) and Luke (Ryan Gosling) in a rare happy moment in The Place Beyond The Pines
Cooper gives a career-best turn as the conflicted and guilt-ridden Avery. It’s good to see Cooper stretching himself well beyond the smug and arrogant efforts he put into The Hangover franchise and The A-Team. He proved he had chops in Silver Linings Playbook, but here gives a more rounded and reined in performance.
The superb supporting cast include Mendes, who is beautifully naturalistic as the stability-seeking Romina, the terrific Mendelsohn as deadbeat Robin and a snake-like Ray Liotta doing what he does best as corrupt cop Deluca.
A moment nicely echoed later in The Place Beyond The Pines
Much of the criticism of The Place Beyond The Pines has centred on Cianfrance’s decision to include what amounts to an extended coda set 15 years after the film’s earlier events in which the now teenage sons of Luke and Avery cross paths to devastating effect. Some have found fault with the neat way in which Cianfrance ties a bow on what until then had been a freeform narrative, while others have questioned why it’s there in the first place.
I for one feel the film is enriched by the scenes involving AJ (Emory Cohen) and Jason (Dane DeHaan) as they provide a deeper context and nicely echo moments that have gone before. When Jason rides his bike down a country road, for instance, it brings to mind the momentary freedom Luke feels on his motorcycle. We don’t need to know what happened in those intervening 15 years, Cianfrance gives us enough to work it out for ourselves.
If Blue Valentine was an impressive calling card, The Place Beyond the Pines marks Cianfrance out as one of the most exciting and accomplished young directors out there.
three rows back 
A pretty long movie, that should have gone on longer to really give us the look and feel of these characters. Instead, most of it just felt like convention. Good review.
Thanks very much. I agree it could have done with being another 30 mins, but I loved what was there anyways.
Nice review man. I’ve heard mixed reviews of this but I still fancy checking it out. Love me a bit of Gosling! 🙂
Cheers! I’ve really come round to Gosling, especially since Drive. If you liked his performance in that you’ll like this. Cooper’s also great which I once thought I’d never hear myself say!
Good review. Gosling was terrific, and this is a great film. Somehow, though, I found too many similarities between ‘Drive’ and this film, and thought that it was a bad decision to cast Cooper alongside Gosling.
Cheers my friend and thanks for the feedback. I certainly spotted the similarities in Gosling’s roles here and in Drive. Out of interest, who do you think would have worked instead of Cooper?
I don’t want to sound vague, but honestly Cooper and Gosling in the same film? I found it more than distracting. These actors are probably the hottest material now in terms of role-offering, and for me the two didn’t work in this film. I could not help but wonder whether there wasn’t some kind of ‘let’s make more money by casting Cooper’ decision in this one. Any lesser known actor would have done a job, such as, I don’t know, why not Chris Messina? – he showed in ‘Devil’ he can handle detective/policeman job with such skill and style. That actor deserves his big break.
I’ve not seen Devil so couldn’t comment on Chris Messina. Cooper’s presence in the movie wasn’t a problem for me; I was impressed by how restrained his performance was. You’re no doubt correct commercial considerations played a big part of Cooper’s (and Gosling’s) casting, but I won’t fault Cianfrance if he manages to get performances like the ones he gets out of his two leads.
Yup, I loved it as well. So far this is the best and most ambitious film I have viewed thus far this year.
It’s right up there for me too. I don’t get the criticism of the extended coda; it made perfect sense to me. Thanks for the feedback.
Short attention spans are emblematic of our societies ills.
What was that? Wasn’t paying attention… 🙂
Great news! Glad you liked it!
Saw it last week and really loved it. Great story and it had me hooked from start to finish.
Glad you liked it. One of the best of the year for me.
I have put it on my favorites of the year list, but since there are many months to go I don’t know if it will still be there (although it has a good chance ;))
Fine review sir! I really can’t wait to see this. I absolutely loved Blue Valentine and I’m expecting the same level from Cianfrance this time around. Thankfully most people are saying he delivers the goods.
He sure does! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Thanks for the kind words 🙂