The Place Beyond the Pines

Cast of Characters:

Luke Glanton - Ryan Gosling

Avery Cross - Bradley Cooper

Romina - Eva Mendes

Deluca - Ray Liotta

Robin Van Der Zee - Ben Mendelsohn

Jennifer Cross - Rose Byrne

Kofi - Mahershala Ali

Bill Killcullen - Bruce Greenwood

Al Cross - Harris Yulin

Director - Derek Cianfrance

Screenplay - Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio & Darius Marder

Rated R for language throughout, some violence, teen drug and alcohol use and a sexual reference

      Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling reunites with Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance, starring with fellow Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper in The Place Beyond the Pines; a film I've been looking forward to see all year. Were my expectations met and should you see it as well?

      The Place Beyond the Pines focuses on three individual stories, all connected. Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) is motorcycle stuntman working in a traveling act for state fairs. At one particular fair he runs into his ex-girlfriend Romina (Eva Mendes). Through reuniting with her, he finds out he has a son with her. He wants to be their for the child, but Romina feels since Luke's financially unstable he's unfit to be there for his son. Luke then finds some help through Robin Van Der Zee (Ben Mendelsohn), an auto repair shop owner, who offers him some part-time employment. Seeing that Luke's still unhappy with the minimum wage pay he's making, Robin turns Luke onto a former vice he once partook in - bank robbing. Robin tells Luke that if follows his own guidelines (e.g., have them lay the money out on the count, so you know it's not coming equipped with an ink bomb), and not do them too frequently, it is possible to get away with it. Plus, with his skills as a bike stuntman, Robin feels Luke could make an expert getaway.

      After robbing a local bank, Luke's life runs into Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a young police officer. After an gun shot incident that had him temporarily hospitalized, Avery instantly becomes a local hero in the eyes of the townsfolk and his fellow officers. His hero image is in jeopardy of fading away amongst some in the police force though when he attempts to expose some corruption in the force led by Officer Deluca (Ray Liotta).

      The third and final story plot revolves around both Avery and Luke's sons, fifteen years later. Both of their children are troubled teens, a fact that proves to be a thorn in Avery's side as he's now trying to run for state Attorney General. Luke's son has no recollection of his father's past and hardly knows anything about who he is other than the few things his mother may have said to him.

      Like I said at the beginning, I was looking forward to seeing this film the moment I first saw the trailer for it a couple months ago. Normally, you run the risk of being disappointed going into a film with high expectations, but that's not the case here as The Place Beyond the Pines is one of the best films of the year. Ryan Gosling has proven himself to be one of the most gifted young actors of the past ten or so years, and he once again delivers a powerful performance. Bradley Cooper spent most his career starring in comedies and chick flicks, but proved he could give a solid performance in the entertaining Limitless and then followed that with his well deserved Oscar nominated performance in Silver Linings Playbook. Cooper gives another great performance that shows he's now capable of being a strong leading man capable of wowing the audience. Eva Mendes gives one of her best performances, and there's also some equally strong supporting work from Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, and Ray Liotta in a small, yet terrifically slimy role as a corrupt cop. The cinematography is exquisite. The musical score is beautiful. The direction is spot on, and the writing is ambitious yet moving both when it's uplifting as well as heartbreaking. The third act involving the children of both Luke and Avery is not quite as intriguing as their own stories. That being said, it still provides a compelling and well acted conclusion to this emotional tale of complete strangers who manage to affect each other's destinies as well as the direction of their children's lives by the choices they make through chance encounters.

      As much as I love being able to rip into a bad film on here, I love it even more when there's a movie great enough for me to say go out and see this now. Co-writer/director Derek Cianfrance hasn't had quite the extensive career as say Scorsese, Stone, Spielberg, the Cohens, Nolan or Tarantino, but this is only his third feature film. He keeps churning out works like this movie, we may be adding his name someday to that list of great directors. I give The Place Beyond the Pines an A (★★★★).

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