The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Screenwriter: Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder

The Place Beyond the Pines is a breathtakingly original and daring film. Starring two of Hollywood's hottest actors, Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, this film aims for the sky in its attempt of a modern Greek tragedy, and falls just short, let down slightly by its second half. The opening credits sequence is a captivating piece of cinematic magic, as we follow Luke Glanton (Gosling), a motorbike stuntman as he threads his way through a fairground, and for the first half an hour the film is of such breathtaking intensity that it could have been really, really great. Gosling, the film's protagonist for the first half puts in a magnificently brooding performance as he resorts to robbing banks to pay for his newborn son. The end of this segment of the film is almost immediately obvious from the start, with the church music playing throughout giving it an increasingly ominous feel. 

Halfway through the film, we switch protagonists completely, a move almost never taken in mainstream cinema, and Bradley Cooper arrives on the scene as Avery Cross, a cop who suppresses his feelings of guilt at a shooting he made as he climbs higher and higher up the police ranks, betraying his friends in the service. This change doesn't quite come off as smoothly as the film would like it to, although there is a significant connection between the two characters that I won't reveal. After the intensity of the first half the second half feels oddly slack, and Cooper puts in a very solid performance, but pales in comparison to Gosling.

The film takes place across three segments, and the third one, wrapping the film up, is a fascinating end to an almost Shakespearean tragedy. We jump fifteen years into the future, to the two main characters children as teens, a daring concept and step that falters slightly in its execution. The focus of the audience is crucial for a film, and the film slightly lets it focus slip, while the characters at times feel like they represent concepts, making decisions because the plot requires them to, but not as real people. The supporting cast, especially Eva Mendes as the mother of Gosling's child are also fantastic, and although the film stumbles at times in its execution of the second half, it is still fascinating to watch and a dazzlingly inventive piece of cinema about greed and corruption.

4/5 Stars