The Place Beyond The Pines Movie Review

 ‘Luke,' a motorbike stunt rider brought to live by Ryan Gosling Ryan Gosling is a Canadian artist. Born at 2:34 am >> Read More... looked owning the movie up until ‘Officer Avery’ played by Bradley Cooper Born as Bradley Charles Cooper on 5th January 1975 >> Read More... comes into play. A PLACE BEYOND THE PINES is an emotional joyride that connects well with the angels and demons buried inside of us. Own it on Blu-Ray today people. WHY? Here’s why.

PLOT: The infamous ‘Luke’ is back in town with his mobile circus show. His popular stunts on bike attract the large crowd, and it looks like the main revenue of the circus show is generated because of him. As he reunites with his lost love ‘Romina’ played by Eva Mendes Eva Mendes is an American model and actress, born >> Read More... , Luke finds out that she belongs to another man now. Drunk in the stardom, Luke continues to work for the circus when he discovers that he has a baby child, 9 months old, living with Romina and her husband. Luke confronts Romina for hiding the fact that he is the father of their baby. Romina blames Luke for previously leaving the town without even leaving a note. Driven by disgust for self and a sense of responsibility, Luke quits the circus (his only source of income) to stay back in town with his “family”. He suggests Romina that she and the baby must leave town with him. Romina points out that he is broke, and unemployed father, who can’t provide for his family.

The dialogues written by Derek Cianfrance are something a reviewer can often fail to describe in words. The subtlety in his writing is the ‘Awe’ which completes the ‘someness’. Luke desperately wants to win her back, and it’s pretty clear that Romina wants to elope with him too. But a new beginning comes with a price, such is life. The haunting thought of failing to win his family back pushes Luke to rob banks with his exceptional skill of vanishing in thin air with his bike. After two heists, Luke starts to get closer to Romina and the child. He treats them well, takes them on a date and even clicks a family picture, which significantly goes on to become the most emotional minutes of the film. Luke is almost closer to his goal of saving enough money to take his wife and kid ‘Jason’ away when a badly planned robbery goes wrong, and he gets chased by the police. ‘Avery’ (Bradley Cooper) is the officer in duty who follows Luke into a residence. In the scuffle, Avery makes a rookie mistake and shoots Luke dead. Avery gets shot too, but he hides the fact from his family and his department that Avery himself opened fire. He decides to take this secret to his grave. Before dying, Luke had managed to secure the looted money with Romina. Avery is then awarded a medal of valor for his bravery. On the other hand, Romina & Jason’s life takes a low steep. All the dreams are destroyed, and the only chance of having a life with beloved Luke is crushed.

Avery is being mentally stomped by his guilt and regret when few corrupt officers take him to frisk Romina’s house illegally and finds the money. They give the bigger cut to Avery as a gift of gratitude for taking the bullet but in reality, they have something else in mind. Avery’s father is a politician, and he looks up to him. Avery mans up and decides to do the right thing. He collects evidence of corruption going in the department and puts the corrupt ones behind bars except the commissioner. He makes a deal with the commissioner and promotes himself to the much-desired position of detective. A Politician’s son after all. Years pass by, Avery’s father dies, and Avery is running for becoming the Governor of the state. As history repeats and as Karma follows, Avery’s spoilt son ‘AJ’ happens to meet young Jason in school and they become acquainted. Jason is tormented by Avery’s son ‘AJ’ repeatedly. By the unpredictable turn of events, Jason finds out that ‘Aj’s’ father Avery had killed Luke, his father. Driven by revenge, Jason buys a gun. Past repeats. A scuffle takes place again. Avery is in the picture again. A gun is shot again.

ANALYSIS: Derek Cianfrance has successfully drawn a thin line between ‘right and wrong’ through this masterpiece. Agonizing pain of being apart from your family. Desperation for power. And starvation for love. These things have been coherently represented with subtle cinematography and mellow music. By peeling down the layers of the film, you’ll come to a conclusion that the role of protagonist and the role of antagonist keeps switching. Sometimes from person to person. Sometimes from generation to generation. The music controls the emotions overall. It even makes you cry within a few times. Applauds to Mike Patton, Music Director. A public antagonist’s life has been cut open in front of you to show that bad is not all bad.

PERFORMANCE: Ryan Gosling has never disappointed his audiences, and the movie ‘A PLACE BEYOND THE PINES’ challenges his future performances because he has set the bar so high. His tattooed body seemed over the top but as the movie takes its harsh turns, Ryan Gosling pulls this rugged character effortlessly. Bradley Cooper has once again convinced us to take him seriously. After his disastrous performances in ‘Hangover 2’ bit the dust, this movie has certainly revived the actor in him. But Bradley Cooper’s character is often over shadowed by Ryan Gosling even in his absence. Bradley Cooper, with his subtlety, leaves the audience wanting more. Eva Mendes, more or less, seemed like the same character from Ghost Rider in the first half but towards the end, she proves her worth too.

PROS: The cinematography redefines subtlety by separating loneliness from life. The look-alike aerial shots are used for the father-son relationship to show the sustained love, traveling through time is sumptuous. A lot of effort has gone into simplifying and converting the emotions into visual cues rather than just using dialogues. Music syncs with the characters not with the story, which is brilliant. This helps us to anticipate the character’s next move. Also, to put it simply, ‘the music is pretty kick-ass’. Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper’s characters meet just once in the film, but it sets up a whole new rivalry between the both throughout the film, the performance is such top notch quality.

CONS: The slow paced screenplay can force a part of the audience to grow restless. Few aspects of the movie should have been explained more broadly, for example, Luke’s love for kids. But again, maybe that’s the subtle cues that the director wants us to pick up on. Although, a few wacky new-gen movie goers would disagree.

VERDICT: It might sound like a crime drama with all the robberies taking place, but the underlying truth is that this movie portrays a point where two family’s life meet and changes forever. Please, do yourself a favor. Take yourself to the place beyond the pines.