Review - The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance follows up Blue Valentine by collaborating with Ryan Gosling again to bring us The Place Beyond the Pines. Cianfrance made Blue Valentine as an intimate study of the emotions felt between a couple from the start of their relationship right to the very end and with The Place Beyond the Pines, he moves away from that territory and makes a film that centres around fatherhood. 

There is only so much I can say about the story of The Place Beyond the Pines without giving too much away. Ryan Gosling plays Luke, a motorcycle stunt rider who discovers he is father to a child he had with old flame Romina (Eva Mendes). With this in mind he decides to utilise his skills as a motorcyclist and starts robbing banks to help provide for Romina and his child, Jason. The path he decides to take ultimately leads to Luke crossing paths with rookie officer Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), who himself is trying to do his best to provide for his family and fight the corruption from within his own police department. 

There are three acts to this film and it was the last of these that made me think that this film was one of the most bold and ambitious independent films I have ever seen, maybe a little too ambitious for its own good. I am not going to mention anything to do with the story in the final act but I will say that I was impressed with the performance from Dane DeHaan as Jason. DeHaan in my eyes is a rising star after showing off his talents in both Chronicle and Lawless. We will soon be seeing him again in next year's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

Behind the ambitious story there are some fine performances from the cast here. This is important as well in such a character driven film like this. Ryan Gosling's Luke to some people will seem very similar to Driver from Drive but there is more to his performance than that. He plays the loner thrown into fatherhood very well and makes you empathise with his character, even if he is the one robbing banks. 

Bradley Cooper is not to be outdone here though as he shows once again outside the big Hollywood blockbusters that he possesses some real acting talent. Before I went to see this film I had seen a review claiming that this was Cooper's finest performance to date. I would have to disagree with that as I thought he was better in Silver Linings Playbook, but this takes nothing away from my thoughts on his performance in The Place Beyond the Pines. 

There was a surprise in store for me here as well with the acting on show from Eva Mendes in the role of Romina. Everyone is normally used to seeing Mendes in more glamorous roles but trust me when I say that she goes way out of her comfort zone and there is nothing glamorous about her character at all. She excels in a role that sees her character torn between a life on the road with Luke and her son or staying put and maintaining a stable family life with new boyfriend Kofi (Mahershala Ali).

Derek Cianfrance does well to handle the expansive story and brings his own style of direction to the big screen, one that we are certain to see more of over the coming years. One highlight for me is scene in which Luke is delayed in his getaway from a robbery and finds himself in a full blown car chase with the police through the streets and a cemetery. The camerawork on show here makes you feel as if you are in the car with the police in pursuit of the bad guy yourself. 

At two hours and twenty minutes it does feel like it starts to drag a little towards the end, which is probably the result of a third act that fails to hit the high standards of the first two, the main reason why this film didn't quite make a score of four from me. 

All in all, The Place Beyond the Pines is solid character driven film that will no doubt strengthen the reputation of Derek Cianfrance as a director.

Verdict: 3.5/5