Film Review: The Place Beyond the Pines

"If you ride like lightning, you're going to crash like thunder." - Ben Mendelsohn

I didn’t really grasp the full extent of what to expect when I went into this film. Initially, it was the opening act, with Ryan Gosling on a motorbike robbing banks, that appealed to me the most. I half-expected this film to play out like Drive or something. I would come to find that The Place Beyond the Pines is not exactly an action-packed film; there’s really only a few major chases. The majority of this film is built on delicately-developed characters and their inevitable collisions.

This film is laid out in three distinct acts. The first third of the film is what appealed to me the most, showing a poor man resorting to crime to support a family that constantly eludes him. Then the film switches to the story of a cop who confronts this criminal. The final section concludes with the legacy left behind from these two characters. The whole film is successful at building emotional, believable characters that we can appreciate and relate to. Its triple-layered narrative is interesting, but loses steam by the finale, and is ultimately anticlimactic. Overall, the story is interesting and mostly well-structured, offering an interesting and heartfelt portrayal of corruption on both sides of the law, and how it all affects family lives.

This film uses some very rough and shakey photography. The action scenes tend to be overly-erratic, but the rest of the film is pretty well-framed. Editing is not bad. This film uses some very gently-nuanced performances, and all of the actors are all quite effective. This production uses some real-looking sets, props, and costumes. Music is especially moody.

It's worth watching at least once.

4/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Good | Film: Good)