The Place Beyond The Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Runtime: 140 minutes

Directed by: Derek Cianfrance

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Emory Cohen, Dane DeHaan

From: Focus Features

One of my faults: purchasing movies on disc then not watching them for years. This was an example of that; it was one of a few Blu discs bought a few years ago from a Big Lots for cheap that sat in my collection collecting dust. For the purpose of adding more variety to my film watching, this was finally given a shot & one benefit of not checking it out much sooner-nor even taking a close look at the credits on the back of the case: the number of actors who would become more famous in the years after this came out. Mahershala Ali as a caring dad is one thing—another thing entirely was experiencing Ben Mendelsohn as a white trash mechanic w/ a cigarette ever-present in his mouth.

In a plot spanning many years, the focus is on the relationship between fathers/sons and the legacy that leaves behind. Ryan Gosling is a motorcycle rider who does stunt shows at county fairs (he and two buddies ride around in a steel globe a la Elvis did in Roustabout. He discovers that he has an infant son w/ Eva Mendes, who has another beau. He tries to be a better dad but does so by making a selection of really poor choices. Eventually Ryan has a scene w/ cop Bradley Cooper... who also has an infant son. I had an idea this wouldn't be the most joyful of pictures-but it was more morose than expected. After all, there are some corrupt police officers (which plays differently than it did then) and many bad things happening to many people. As others have noted, the opening 50 or so minutes is the strongest segment of the movie and your overall opinion will depend on how “worse” you think the subsequent scenes are.

That said, it was still a captivating experience. The natural structure of the story-there are a few different stories told-results in a few moments best described as “convenient”-that did not bother me as there were solid themes that were addressed. A haunting score & a cast full of faces I recognized who (mostly) delivered were assets. A different setting of Schenectady, New York was pleasant to me... it seems like a nice decent-sized city in the upstate region. Various themes are addressed-such as masculinity & other things it probably be best not to spoil-it did not seem long despite being over 2 hours in length, has pleasant cinematography... even if it's not a feel-good movie you can throw on at any time, it was a rewarding journey which presented ideas worth of conversation or contemplation. It did make me contemplate what happened w/ Dane DeHaan... turns out, he was on an Amazon Prime series I hadn't even heard of before and (lolz) was on a Quibi series too.