“The Place Beyond the Pines,” Derek Cianfrance’s new movie, reveals the scale of its ambitions by slow and patient accretion. The film starts out as the modest tale of a small-time carnival performer — a motorcycle stunt rider — who turns to crime for misguided but nonetheless semi-admirable reasons, and in the early scenes you might mistake it for an earnest, locavore indie melodrama. Which it is, only bigger, longer and elevated to a place on the border between grandeur and grandiosity. Set in and around Schenectady, N.Y. (whose Mohawk name is evoked in the title), “The Place Beyond the Pines” has a lot to say about class, manhood and the curious operations of fate, themes that Mr. Cianfrance articulates with blunt conviction and, at times, impressive artistry. He goes on too long: the three-part story, spread over nearly two and a half hours, represents a triumph of sympathetic imagination and a failure of narrative economy. But if, in the end, the film can’t quite sustain its epic vision, it does, along the way, achieve the density and momentum of a good novel.
Writer-director Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines is a rich, multi-layered narrative dripping with fatalism, guilt, honor, and no easy answers. It is an epic family saga that defies easy explanation, and rebels against the structure of a traditional narrative. His gripping tale shows split-second connections that last lifetimes, and old sins that reach across generations. Cianfrance has created a remarkable work that reaches a grand ambition with an intimate tale. And I have to tell you why it works without divulging the twists and turns of its razor-sharp script.
Without revealing any of the surprising plot developments, I’ll break down The Place Beyond the Pines in its broad arcs. The story follows three men: There’s Luke (Ryan Gosling), a stunt cyclist and ex-convinct who wants to find a way to support his infant son and make a family with his former fling and his son’s mother, Rosina (Eva Mendes). Avery (Bradley Cooper) is an ambitious rookie cop who becomes a local hero only to find himself forced to confront corruption in the police department. Finally, Jason (Dane DeHaan) is an aloof teenager searching for the truth about his deceased father. The stories are connected, but I won’t say how.
This kind of organic development requires acting that flows with the story rather than overwhelms it, and while Cianfrance has written and directed a terrific picture, the movie wouldn’t work half as well without Gosling and DeHaan. Cooper gives a fine performance, but he constantly feels constrained by his character’s ambivalence. Gosling and DeHaan have the benefit of playing decisive, rebellious figures prone to anger, resentment, and confusion. Gosling once again provides the quiet intensity we’ve seen from him before, but it still retains all of its power. As for DeHaan, 2012 has truly been his year. Beginning with Chronicle, followed by Lawless, and now capped with The Place Beyond the Pines, he has repeatedly shown himself to be a remarkable actor who gives absolutely devastating performances.
I don’t know how The Place Beyond the Pines will play on a second viewing. Its revelations are so crucial to its impact, but I believe the film will keep its hold through the strength of its larger story. A tale built solely on twists and turns usually falls apart when it’s revisited, but Cianfrance has done far more than simply provide surprising revelations in his narrative. He has told a tremendous story about unintended legacies, struggling to break free from the lives others have unintentionally laid out for us, and yet perhaps being locked into a destiny when we know of no other path. There are crossroads, but there are also blind alleys, winding passages, and these avenues may lead us into uncharted territory or where our fathers tread before. Tightly constructed but never constrained, The Place Beyond the Pines is a marvel of storytelling, and a powerful exploration of conscious crimes and unexpected punishments.
| TITLE | The Place Beyond the Pines |
|---|---|
| ORIGINAL_TITLE | |
| YEAR | 2012 |
| RATING | 7.4 |
| GENRES | Crime Drama |
| DIRECTORS | Derek Cianfrance |
| WRITERS | Derek Cianfrance Ben Coccio Darius Marder |
| CAST | Ryan Gosling Craig Van Hook Eva Mendes Olga Merediz Anthony Pizza Mahershala Ali John Facci Ben Mendelsohn Tula Penny Cynthia Pelletier-Sullivan Mackenzie Trainor Nicole Califano Shannon Plumb Tracey Agustin Ean Egas Bob Dieterich Thomas Mattice Adam Nowichi Mark J. Caruso G. Douglas Griset Vanessa Thorpe Gail Martino Brian Smyj Bradley Cooper Dorothy Rutherford Paul Steele Gabe Fazio Rose Byrne Travis Jackson Campbell |
| STARS | Ryan Gosling Craig Van Hook Eva Mendes Olga Merediz Anthony Pizza |
| PRODUCERS | Matt Berenson Carrie Fix Lynette Howell Sidney Kimmel Katie McNeill Alex Orlovsky Jamie Patricof Crystal Powell Jim Tauber Bruce Toll |
| MUSICIANS | Mike Patton |
| CINEMATOGRAPHERS | Sean Bobbitt |
| EDITORS | Jim Helton Ron Patane |
| MPAA_RATING | R |
| RELEASE_DATE | 19 April 2013 |
| TAGLINE | One moment can change your life. |
| PLOT | A motorcycle stunt rider turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective. |
| PLOT_KEYWORDS | Motorcycle Bank Carnival Motorcycle Stunt Death |
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