The Place Beyond the Pines: An emotional powerhouse of unstable ambition

The relationship between a boy and his father is a peculiar notion that frequently asks the age-old question, does the apple fall from the tree? Rebutting the perturbing idiom, director Derek Cianfrance’s film “The Place Beyond the Pines” tracks the journey of four men, stunt motorcyclist Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), police officer Avery (Bradley Cooper), and their respective sons, Jason (Dane DeHaan) and AJ (Emory Cohen).

Narratively executed in three isolated, yet inter-connected tales, the film’s front-running story, Gosling’s, packs an emotional punch that sets the bar too high to follow. Luke, a stunt motorcyclist for a traveling carnival, learns that he knocked up former fling Romina (Eva Mendes) on his previous tour. Growing up without a father, Luke attempts to raise the boy and reconnect with Romina, a difficult task made worse by her current boyfriend. Desperate for money, and coaxed on by fellow motorcycle fanatic Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), Luke begins robbing banks to support his family.

The emotional depth of Gosling’s story let alone his and everyone else’s performance, creates an emotional momentum that is almost unsuccessfully carried on by the film’s trailing acts. Picking up now with Cooper, a police officer struggling with corruption in his profession, the overall film takes an odd misdirection that seems to come way out of left field. While the events of the second act feature a terrific villainous performance by Ray Liotta, and an outstanding enactment by Cooper, proving an incredible range of versatility, the relationships between characters begin to fell more contrived and superficial. Even more so, when fifteen years later we meet Cooper’s son AJ, the typical substance-abusing "daddy doesn’t spend time with me" kid.

While the character of AJ, co-pilot of our third and final story, seems artificial, Jason, Luke’s son and our other protagonist, redelivers the emotional stride that his father established in the beginning of the film. In a haunting manner, the rippling effects of the father’s sins come alive in this act, delivering an emotional finale summed up in one single shot of the film.

Despite hindrance by the over ambitious attempt at telling three tales in one, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is a tragic film worthy of much praise. A testament to Cianfrance’s ability to shock his audience, the film is an absolute must see for those curious about moral ambiguity, placing cops and robbers on a similar grounding, and psychologically unpacking the tantalizing expression, “like father like son.”

Ryan McCabe is a student majoring in Film and T.V. at NYU.  As a student finding his way in the film business at one of the nation's best film institutions, Ryan brings a unique perspective to this blog and recently voiced the roles of Peter Godwin and Theron Campion In Ellen Kushner and Neal Gaeman's  audio book The Fall of Kings.