The Place Beyond The Pines- Review

The Place Beyond The Pines is an enthralling and emotional crime drama that blurs the line between protection and vulnerability in a dream state. Directed by Derek Cianfrance, it features a masterful cast containing Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Mahershala Ali, Emory Cohen and Dane DaHaan.

As a general synopsis, this movie follows the story of fathers and sons and the human ability to decipher right from wrong. Instead of seeing this film as just one story, it becomes a total of three that all tie into one throughout the total running time of 140 minutes and spanning over 15 years. Keeping this in mind, the ability to fit all three stories into one film as perfectly as this will be one tough act to follow.

The performances: Ryan Gosling plays the role of Luke, a troubled and criminally adventurous man. His characterisation and ability to make it as memorable as possible without being overshadowed or forgotten in amongst the other characters was spectacular. Ryan's abilities don't just stop at holding down a memorable role. He also has the ability to make a seemingly disturbed 'anti-hero' with selective Robin Hood-like qualities into a persona in which the audience may feel empathy towards.

In what flickers over to the second story, we embark on a journey following the life of policeman, Avery Cross played by Bradley Cooper. With much less to do with the first story, the second story involves the mild-mannered and matter-of-fact Avery who is dealing with physical rehabilitation and the collapse of his status among job description, colleagues and friends. Bradley's character is easily overshadowed by the overlapping story but it goes without saying that it is more of a character fault than of his own.

The third story, 15 years later, becomes perhaps the most gripping part of the film (next to the first story) and introduces us to Dane DaHaan and Emory Cohen who both fuel each other's fire on screen in perfect fashion.

As far as technicality for this film, you can see just how much time, care and effort had been put into constructing the general appeal of this film and the non-verbal aspects of characterisation. From time to time, the filming would switch to a handheld camera to suck the audience in as if they too, were following the characters right in front of them. There were also some beautifully shot backgrounds, particularly within the pines and eye-level sunsets.

Also, spectacular music scores by Mike Patton for this film. My absolute favourite composer who delivered the mood behind the dialogue and setting.

The Place Beyond The Pines is deserving of attention in every aspect that it has to offer, ranging from a fantastic cast to the beauty of it's setting. Compelling, beautiful and unique- this film is not to be missed.

Score: 9/10.