The Place Beyond The Pines

I had seen Blue Valentine when it released a couple of years back and was quite wary about The Place Beyond The Pines.  Derek Cianfrance gave me the impression of being an arty farty director in his previous outing.  Michelle Williams of course did a fine job in that movie one and earned herself a nomination.

Cianfrance on the other hand showed potential but I thought was a little all over the place. And then there were the advertisements and some reviews which had indicated that we are in for a “Crash”esque kind of treat which I believe is a genre that few have absolute command over.  So I was kind of hoping against hope that I would be in for a treat and not a disappointment.

 

Seem like Cianfrance is determined to stamp his style of direction on everyone.  Like a signature of sorts.  So the dialogues are very soft spoken more often than not.  The characters take a long time to respond to each other in conversation. One has to wait forever to listen to a response.  And then suddenly there will be a fight with loads of screaming and shouting to compensate for the calmness before.

 

TPBTP is the story of Luke (Ryan Gosling – seems to be Cianfrance’s favourite) who is a rider in the sphere of death.  He meets Romina (Eva Mendes), a year or so after their previous meeting, only to realize that he is the father of their son – Jason.  A bit taken aback and with a desire to ensure Jason doesn’t need to face any worries, he decides to stay back in town for good.

 

But to ensure a good life, he takes up a profession that is not very well respected in society.  Bank Robbery.  Much against the advice of his partner Robin (Ben Mendelsohn) he doesn’t stop at one robbery.  As if it was a drug that has grabbed hold of him from the inside.  That feeling of “just one more” gets the better of him and he is shot dead in his next attempt by Officer Avery (Bradley Cooper).

 

TPBTP is not like Crash.  In the sense that, it doesn’t have too many parallel story lines.  But it does have a serial story line.  So Handsome Luke makes way for Officer Avery who makes way for Avery Junior aka AJ (Emory Cohen) who lands up meeting Jason (Dane DeHaan) in school.  The movie is quite long drawn and detailed.  So you will have to be patient for it to unravel itself.

 

Having said that, it is not a bore.  It is a good story backed with some very good performances.  Ryan Gosling, I have always believed is vastly underrated.  Bradley Cooper seems to be exceeding himself with every outing.  And Eva Mendes has more that proven that she is not just a RomCom bimbo.  Bruce Mendelsohn is probably the best of the lot in his small but important role.

 

TPBTP is an arty movie like Blue Valentine.  And like BV probably wasn’t Oscar worthy but is definitely worth watching.  But only if you are in the mood for some arty cinema.  Watchable on DVD.  6.5 on 10.

 

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi267494937/?ref_=tt_ov_vi