For some reason The Place Beyond the Pines is not the greatest movie ever. It’s a star-studded cast with a very appealing plotline; it really has no reason to be anything but amazing. Yet everything I say about the film has to be qualified with “you’d like it if… or “it’s not that bad but…” In reality, I don’t know how I feel about it as a cohesive film. What I can say is there’s plenty of good and bad to pick out and whichever taste is left in your mouth depends on what you deem most important.
The Place Beyond the Pines is a bit of a crime-epic but could also be viewed as three vignettes that are directly tied to one another. Ryan Gosling plays Luke Glanton, a circus daredevil who runs into an old groupie and discovers he’s a father. Glanton’s daredevil lifestyle can’t support a child so he decides to rob small town banks to pay for the kid’s needs. Bradley Cooper plays Avery Cross, a rookie police officer who pursues Glanton during one of his bank heists. The final section of the film follows Glanton and Cross’ sons, fifteen years later.
It goes without saying that the story is ambitious. Each section has its own self-contained pros and cons but in general the themes focus on patriarchy, morality, and family. These themes act as the connective tissue for each section but some of the subplots enter and leave without notice. It’s obvious that a statement is being made by the filmmakers, but after a single viewing of the film I can’t tell you what it is and I’m unsure if that’s a fault of theirs or my own.
In terms of the individual sections, Ryan Gosling’s bank heisting adventures as Luke Glanton stands out as the best part of the film. Gosling has gained deserving praise for his recent roles in Drive and Blue Valentine (the latter shares the same director as Pines) and he continues his streak of successful performances here. In addition to his inherent charisma and charm, Gosling manages to differentiate Glanton from his other crime-focused roles.
Glanton is a human character who can make mistakes. The most exciting parts of the films are not when heists go successful and the audience marvels at the spectacle. Instead it’s when we see that the characters we’re watching are very accident-prone and each stumble or fall could be their last.
In fact I’d say the heist and pursuit scenes of Pines are easily the best part of the movie. Director Derek Cianfrance has established with Blue Valentine and Pines that he has an intense obsession with making cinematic movies look grainy and dark. The style is meant to make the films feel as real as possible and it proves a resounding success with these action scenes. Long cuts are used effectively to keep tension high while the handheld camera operating amplifies the sense of speed. They’re not your typical action set piece but the intended effect is certainly achieved.
After Glanton’s heists are concluded, the film starts to go downhill with the introduction of Bradley Cooper’s character, Avery Cross. Whereas Glanton’s story is about his connections with his son/family and what lengths he’d go to support them, Cross’ story is about… corrupt cops?
It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with the story of a rookie cop taking on a corrupt system, but it’s difficult to place what relevance it has to the first part of the film.
Luckily, Cooper’s performance holds your attention throughout this sequence and his likable character makes you care about what happens next even if it simultaneously trains you to forget about what happened before.
The final section of the film is where the nitpicks and minor issues become reasons to dislike the film. The focus shifts from Avery Cross, to his son AJ Cross, fifteen years later when he meets Glanton’s son in High School.
This sequence is borderline nonsensical and falls into plotline inconsistences. Without revealing too much, there’s information that’s disputed by the characters of the film but the truth is known to the audience. Yet, characters in the film act upon the knowledge that they do not have. It doesn’t help that their actions are inexplicable and the film starts to wander towards Euro Artsy-Fartsy symbolism.
Although the film ends, there’s very little conclusion. No real point is made and several loose ends are left alone. It’s possible the intent is to “interpret” what happens to everything, but if that is the case then it’s an overreliance of interpreting and seems closer to “we forgot to wrap everything up.”
Yet, despite the bitter taste at the end, I felt compelled to defend the movie when it was criticized by the person I saw it with. The issue is twofold. First, the various sections make it very easy to forgive the bad parts in service of the good. Second, there are so many characters and subplots in the film it’s impossible to comprehend everything just from one viewing. I’m giving The Place Beyond the Pines the benefit of the doubt. I may not have unquestionable liked the whole thing, but I’ll echo the words of a cynical Hollywood producer who got a free ticket and say: It’s interesting.