Place Beyond The Pines, The (2012) [Blu-ray]
Crime | Drama

Tagline: One moment can change your life.

Academy Award nominees Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper star in this epic, riveting crime drama about the unbreakable bond between fathers and sons. Luke (Gosling) gives up his job as a motorcycle stunt performer in order to provide for his new family. Avery (Cooper), an ambitious rookie cop, struggles to make his way in a corrupt police department. Their two worlds collide when Luke takes part in a string of bank robberies and the consequences of their shocking confrontation will reverberate into the next generation. From the acclaimed director of Blue Valentine and co-starring Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta, this engaging and powerful thrill ride has critics raving, "The Place Beyond The Pines is huge in its ambition, huge in its achievement!" (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle)

Storyline: A mysterious and mythical motorcycle racer, Luke, (Ryan Gosling) drives out of a traveling carnival globe of death and whizzes through the backstreets of Schenectady, New York, desperately trying to connect with a former lover, Romina, (Eva Mendes) who recently and secretly gave birth to the stunt rider's son. In an attempt to provide for his new family, Luke quits the carnival life and commits a series of bank robberies aided by his superior riding ability. The stakes rise as Luke is put on a collision course with an ambitious police officer, Avery Cross, (Bradley Cooper) looking to quickly move up the ranks in a police department riddled with corruption. The sweeping drama unfolds over fifteen years as the sins of the past haunt the present days lives of two high school boys wrestling with the legacy they've inherited. The only refuge is found in the place beyond the pines. Written by StudioCanal

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown on August 6, 2013 -- The Place Beyond the Pines is an achingly beautiful, sometimes unbearably tense meditation on an age-old mystery, one that continues to confound both academics and philosophers; men of science and men of faith. Are sons cursed to suffer the sins of their fathers? Or do the righteous and wicked, fathers and sons alike, reap only the sins each one sows? Spiritually, it's a deeply profound idea that places the onus on the parent and the individual. Biologically and psychologically, by nature or nurture, hook or by crook, it's just as profound, requiring adults to examine the choices they make in the now, and evaluate the possible consequences those choices may hold for their children. Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance doesn't make any attempt to answer such questions in The Place Beyond the Pines, which would make for an even more dangerously ambitious film than the deceptively simple multigenerational saga already is. Instead, he focuses solely on the alarming ease with which two fathers' sins seep into their sons' lives, polluting the familial waters in tragic, wholly unexpected ways.

Cianfrance and co-writers Ben Coccio and Darius Marder stage a tightly interconnected three-act crime drama that tells three distinct stories. In the first, we meet Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), a traveling daredevil and motorcyclist who impulsively quits his job and moves to a small town in New York upon learning that he has an infant son. To his dismay, the boy's mother -- one-night-stand Romina (Eva Mendes) -- isn't happy about his decision at all, as her current boyfriend, Kofi (Mahershala Ali), is the kind of stable family man she wants in her life. But Luke isn't one take no for an answer, or to let hard times prevent him from being a father. Partnering with his boss and landlord, a mechanic named Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), Luke tries his hand at robbing banks and discovers he has a knack for making quick cash. It's then that we're suddenly thrust into the middle of the second story, where we meet Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a police officer and new father who's hailed for taking a bullet in the line of duty. His new status in the department, short lived as it is, brings him to the attention of Peter Deluca (Ray Liotta), a corrupt cop who decides to take Avery on an illegal search and seizure. Racked with guilt in the aftermath of his complicity, Avery is forced to make an impossible choice between loyalty and honor.

It's the third story, though, that will divide audiences to some degree, albeit not to such an extreme that The Place Beyond the Pines becomes a love-it-or-leave-it affair. Fifteen years after Luke and Avery cross paths, their teenage sons -- Jason (Dane DeHaan) and AJ (Emory Cohen) -- find themselves attending the same high school, sitting across from one another at the same lunch table, and becoming fast friends. Neither one realizes the connection they share, and neither one fully understands why Avery, now running for public office, would go out of his way to protect both Jason and AJ when the teens are arrested. As Jason begins to piece together information about Avery, and as AJ grows more and more distant from his father, the boys' lives are changed forever. It's here that divisiveness festers, and for a number of reasons, the first being Cohen's aggressive performance (brash, alienating, and unlikable by design), and the second being the manner in which Jason and AJ's lives collide. With Luke and Avery's stories, Cianfrance, Coccio and Marder are all but invisible; events unfold and dialogue is delivered with such natural, convincing rhythms that the resulting conflict and realism is nothing short of riveting. But when Jason and AJ enter the fray, the screenwriters leap in with them and become all too visible. Events transpire that very much feel as if they were born from a screenplay rather than reality. Revelations occur that are much more contrived than anything that graces the first two acts. And the culmination of the fathers' sins is a bit too on the nose, particularly as those same sins drive Jason to do things that, were it not for the always excellent DeHaan's gripping performance, would ring false and out of character.


Thankfully, those immersed in the tale and its telling will find any distractions that accompany the film's third-act shift to be minimal and, quite arguably, necessary. As absorbing as The Place Beyond the Pines is as Luke hurtles toward destruction and Avery struggles to deal with his own fall, the first two stories only find their meaning in the third. It's Jason and AJ's tenuous friendship that brings Luke and Avery's sins and legacies full circle; DeHaan and Cohen's raw energy and screen presence that reveals the previously unseen plot and character threads that span the entire saga; Jason and AJ that make Luke and Avery's lives even more compelling and complex on repeat viewings; DeHaan and Cohen's performances that make Gosling and Cooper's work that much more layered and masterful. The fathers share very little screentime with the sons, and yet it's abundantly clear that Cianfrance has invested tremendous time and nuance into developing the various connections that tie father to son, past to present, and the sin of the father to the redemption by the son. And it's only when the credits roll that it becomes clear just how much Cianfrance has accomplished, often without showing his hand or tipping his hat in the slightest. The Place Beyond the Pines is best savored a second and third time, when the full breadth of the three stories can be explored in tandem. The fact that the film features outstanding performances all around, evocative cinematography courtesy of Sean Bobbitt (Hunger, Shame), a driving score from Mike Patton, and a palpable confidence behind every shot and scene only makes it all that much more potent.

The Place Beyond the Pines is a powerful ensemble drama, with outstanding performances and a carefully structured trio of riveting stories that bypass the usual interconnected-character tropes and strive for something greater; something more honest and revealing. The sins of the father are revisited upon the son in spectacularly minimalistic fashion, and a divisive, initially jarring third act is the only thing that prevents the film from resonating more. Tackle a second or third viewing, though, and watch as Cianfrance's true talents are put on display. Universal's Blu-ray release is terrific as well, with a striking video presentation, immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and a solid selection of extras. All told, The Place Beyond the Pines is an easy one to recommend.

[CSW] -1.4- A post-modern parable? It was an incredible feat to try and make a modern film with the feel and the message of a Biblical story or a Greek tragedy. All of that is true but I left this film with the thought of so what. I have seen better tragedies and those did seem to have a point. Maybe I'm obtuse but the film should have been shorter and told differently. As it was and from what others have been saying it's like watching paint dry. It was slow and drawn out and it was like 3 movies in one with none of them having a really good connection. The overall plot just wasn't there and I never really felt for any of the characters. I suggest that you skip this one.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.


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