Sins of the father

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
Certified: 16
Duration: 140 minutes
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, Mahershala Ali, Bruce Greenwood, Harris Yulin, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Robert Clohessy, Olga Merediz
KRS release

Ryan Gosling is wild card Luke Glanton, a motorcycle stunt-rider who forms part of a travelling carnival, a sort of Evel Knievel.

The carnival stops in Schenectady in New York, where he encounters Romina (Eva Mendes). The year before he had an affair with her, out of which a child was born but he was unaware of this.

Romina is raising the child with her boyfriend Kofi (Mahershala Ali). Luke wants to be his father and so leaves the carnival and gets a job as a mechanic. But his employer, Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), has other intentions for him: he wants to use him to start robbing banks again.

In the same town, we find a policeman, Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), who is married to Jennifer (Rose Byrne) and has a son.

During a crime he ends up wounded and kills the criminal. This lands him in trouble but he is cleared by District Attorney Bill Killcullen (Bruce Greenwood).

Avery is considered as a hero by the other cops, while his father Al (Harris Yulin) does not approve of his career choice.

Meanwhile, Avery discovers how corrupt the police department is. Fifteen years later, Avery runs for District Attorney but he is not happy to be saddled with his teenage son AJ (Emory Cohen), who is always in trouble.

So he decides to transfer him to a new school. Here AJ meets loner student Jason (Dane De Haan) and the two become good friends. Eventually, they find out that their past entwines them together in unexpected ways.

This engaging and articulated crime drama once again brings together Ryan Gosling and director Derek Cianfrance after their 2010 film Blue Valentine. The title of the film is the English version of the Mohawk meaning for the town of Schenectady. The film follows three threads, all bearing emotional weight, an amount of meditation and scope that is to be simply applauded.

First and foremost, the film is populated by characters that seem to be real, thus the stories of fathers and sons, of corrupt cops, of love and wild spirits resonate even more and bring with them an increased sense of time and place.

As the characters go through the hoops, we get to feel their anxieties: for example, it shows that whatever one does in life will affect how his children will view life and behave.

The film’s two main protagonists are Gosling and Cooper. They deliver rounded, intense performances that show the actors at their best – they provide the emotional whirlwind that is at the core of this crime drama.

They represent two sides of the same coin: two men from different walks of life who opt to take the same path, yet do this in dissimilar ways.

Moody, both in its soul and in its ethereal visuals and cinematography, The Place Beyond the Pines also benefits from a wistful musical score by Mike Patton, the frontman of alternative rock band Faith No More.

Overall, this is an ambitious movie that succeeds on most counts. It should be marked as a must-see on every serious film-goer’s calendar.