It`s tough to summarize the going-ons of a movie like The Place Beyond The Pines; the film is separated into three arcs, interrelated but not always intertwining. The first arc focuses on Luke (Ryan Gosling),stunt motorcycle rider with all the trappings of a tough guy, who makes a fateful decision to commit a crime to support this child. The second arc moves on to Aaron (Bradley Cooper), a law enforcer linked to Luke through his criminal activity, while the third arc explores the consequences of their interactions over the course of fifteen years.
Under Cianfrance`s masterful hand, The Place Beyond The Pines exudes an atmospheric tension that never lets up. We get a growing sense of the past and its consequences catching up to the film`s characters, but never really find comfortable footing in being able to predict what precisely will befall. The ambience of the soundtrack by Faith No More`s Mike Patton underscores the hypnotic grittiness of Cianfrances naturalistic style.
Gosling and Cooper put in spectacular performances as young men who have to navigate identities of fatherhood on both ends, and the duality portrayed by both actors is both crucial to the film and mesmerizing to behold. There`s never a maid climax to The Place Beyond The Pines, as the film is a distillation of dense moments, with its leading characters caught firmly in the middle of it all.
Despite its significant merits, The Place Beyond The Pines does have several noticeable flaws. Cianfrance occasionally takes melodramatic risks, not all of which pay off, and the contrivances of the third act may seem implausible to certain audiences, in the same manner as 2004`s Crash. It`s the last segment, in fact, which causes The Place Beyond The Pines to lose the momentum that drives it through the earlier two-thirds of the film. The triptych structure and 140 minute run time may further serve to alienate less patient viewers.
Thankfully, these are hardly fatal flaws for a film that rivets for much of its run time. The Place Beyond the Pines is a psychologically dense drama that warrants repeated viewing.
Summary: Psychologically dense character drama, and a lot more than just Drive on a motorcycle.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Raphael Lim