Well it took almost five whole months, but I finally saw a new release that I can gladly pronounce as this year’s first masterpiece. The film is The Place Beyond the Pines, and it’s a truly big, emotional, and unique cinematic experience. Directed by Derek Cianfrance, who directed the equally excellent but completely different Blue Valentine (also starring Ryan Gosling), The Place Beyond the Pines is reminiscent of some epic crime dramas from the 1990s but never feels like its treading familiar water so much as to be boring. I went into this film with fairly high expectations, and all of them were met or even blown away.
The Place Beyond the Pines is a difficult film to summarize without giving much away, so my attempt to get you interested in this movie may seem a big vague. Luke Glanton, played by Ryan Gosling (who channels his character from Drive just a bit here), is a stunt motocross driver who discovers that he has a child with a woman (played by Eva Mendes, who seems to be showing up in some excellent movies lately) he spent the night with some time ago. He decides to give up his profession in order to support the child and give him a better life than Glanton has had. Unfortunately, Glanton is having some trouble getting enough money through legitimate jobs, so he gets involved in some less-than-legal plots to get more money. Another main character in the film is Avery Cross, played by an excellent Bradley Cooper. Cross is a police officer who gets involved with Glanton and his family one way or another, I won’t spoil anything. Just know that the film spans over a much longer time period than I originally thought. The Place Beyond the Pines feels epic, but doesn’t surrender any character development or intimacy in doing so.
The Place Beyond the Time runs at nearly two and a half hours, but it never feels long. The way it is organized and plotted helps move the running time along at a brisk pace. You could almost say that this film is a three part movie, each part with its own beginning, middle, and end. As focus shifts from one character to another, I never found myself frustrated that we were leaving somebody else behind for a little bit. Each character and premise has such great development that I was immediately absorbed into that story and was always thinking to myself “how is this all going to come together?”. Needless to say, it all does by the end, but not in the way I thought it was going to. Instead of just being a crime drama, The Place Beyond the Pines has a final act that brings forward some very touching themes about father/son relationships and how our actions have consequences that continue on throughout our entire lives.
Despite a few moments in the film that felt a bit forced or rushed, The Place Beyond the Pines ended up winning me over completely. Every actor in the film gives a winning performance and the scope and themes of the film are deeply resonate and emotional. There are plenty of exciting scenes throughout the movie as well as a plethora of characters that I found very easy to relate to (despite some of them being criminals). It took a while, but I finally saw a film this year that earns the title “masterpiece”. Without being overly conventional, The Place Beyond the Pines uses familiar plot devices to bring forward some powerful themes and unique character developments. I can’t wait to see this again and show it to some friends and family.
10/10
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