The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) Directed by Derek Cianfrance. Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes. IMDB says: “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.”
The Place Beyond The Pines (Pines) is the type of film you want to talk about after seeing it, but you can’t unless someone else has seen the film. Pines is surprisingly ambitious, bringing you along for an unexpected ride; much like the ones Luke (a very blonde and VERY tattooed Ryan Gosling) takes. Pines is about Luke, aka Handsome Luke, a motorcycle stunt driver with a traveling carnival. One night, while the carnival is in the town of Schenectady, he comes across old flame Romina (a tired looking Eva Mendes). She doesn’t say much, but Luke is able to put two and two together to figure out she has a child, and he’s the father. Realizing he has responsibilities now, he quits the carnival business and decides to hang around town and help support Romina and his son. Luke comes across Robin (a very funny Ben Mendelsohn) and together they begin to rob banks until Luke is unable to escape pursuit of the cops, and crosses the path of Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) who I’m sure is zero relation to Alex Cross. All of that is just the first thirty-ish minutes. I wish I could tell you more about the story but I don’t want to spoil the surprises the film has in store. Let’s just say the rest of Pines is a portrait of the intertwining odyssey that is life and the decisions we make along the way.
The film looks gorgeous. The opening track shot, lasting about five or so minutes, is awesome and does a fantastic job of setting the pace and tone of the film. It feels like a 70s slow burn Cassavetes film where you’re given enough action to keep you engaged as the story builds and builds. Director Derek Cianfrance did a fantastic job directing the film and a solid job co-writing it alongside Ben Coccio and Darius Marder. At times the dialogue sounded uninspired and bland, leaving the most colorful dialogue to… well, the most colorful characters. But all of the actors make it work and breathe what life they can into the dialogue. I will admit, there are a few scenes where, when robbing a bank, Gosling hits a few high notes when telling the bank employees to ‘Get on the ground’ or ‘put the money in the bag’. At first I thought it was a slip and meant to show the adrenaline and fear pumping through his body, but the more banks he continued to rob, the more the high notes came parading out. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather be roared and growled at when being robbed at bank instead of yelped and barked at. But maybe that’s just me.
The soundtrack is another one of those “but maybe that’s just me” instances that pulled me into the film, but I can see how it can also be a deterrent. The dulcet and warped tones of guitars and choral groups fill your ears during pan shots of the countryside and motorcycle rides with Luke, and ramp up during the action sequences. Composer Mike Patton delivers something different from his previous work on Crank, Black Hawk Down, and Young Adult, but, to me, its a score that adds to the tone of the film and engages you emotionally. But just in case you don’t like it, Hall and Oates, Bon Iver, and Bruce Springsteen are tossed in there for good measure.
Definitely check this film out. If you’re the antsy type during long movies, you might want to wait for a rental so you can pause, get up and get a snack or break for the bathroom. If nearly two and a half hours is a cakewalk, I recommend checking it out in theatres. The tracking shots and panning shots are gorgeous and I’d hate to see the beauty get lost in translation on a smaller screen. Also, use the bathroom before you go because you’re not going to want to miss anything.
My review compadre Nick has hit the nail on the head with this one. It’s much better to talk about The Place Beyond the Pines (or what I think the films should have been called: Fathers & Sons) only when both parties have seen the film. Having noted that, I’ll just say a few more words about my experience with the movie.
The 2.5 hour film is much more than what a viewer might expect having seen only the trailer. The journey you take watching Pines spans years following multiple characters and isn’t limited to a simple case of cop vs robber. Saying a whole lot more on the matter is absolutely spoiler territory. Even though the length and ambition of the movie is it’s biggest detractor, I wasn’t bothered by it because the story was so compelling.
Director Derek Cianfrance uses his doc style film making techniques to full advantage here, allowing the audience to become immediately immersed in a world that feels real even when there is a lack of dialogue in the scenes. This cinéma vérité style of direction seems to go hand in hand with improvisation for the actors. It takes a special sort of skill for actors to really win an audience with that type of performance but thankfully, all the talent in the film executes their scenes perfectly. Baby Goose is unsurprisingly great and to the contrary of Nick’s remarks, I thought his turns as a squeaky bank robber really felt authentic to his wish-he-was-tough guy character. Bradly Cooper also performs quite well and proves that his excellent role in Silver Linings Playbook wasn’t a one time thing. But I have to single out my favorite performance of the film from Dane Dehaan (Chronicle.) Only ten minutes into his screen time and I thought to myself “I’m seriously in love with this actor.” He nails it in Pines and in all honesty, stole the show. I’m definitely anticipating all his future work.
The only small piece of Pines I wasn’t feeling was it’s score. I can’t really place what type of music would have helped the film (I’m not a composer, after all) but melodies chosen often seemed out of place and almost amateur in execution. Like anything, sometimes the music fit better than others (like Nick said with the Hall & Oats tracks) but as a whole I didn’t enjoy the music selections.
Seeing this in the theaters can either work for or against the film, depending on the type of film watcher you are. It’s long and covers a great deal of material, so consider that just a small bit of warning when deciding whether or not to catch Pines in the theater.
The Place Beyond the Pines opens in nationwide Friday, April 12th.