If you haven’t seen Blue Valentine than you need to know something about director Derek Cianfrance. Happiness isn't his game. Both of his feature films are tragic stories. Blue Valentine shows one of the most futile, realistic relationships that I have seen in film. There are bursts of happiness but they are fighting against the main narrative. They don’t last. They’re swallowed by sadness, anger, regret and resentment. All the things that make a good mind go bad.
The Place Beyond the Pines follows another example of simple lives turned bad. While Blue Valentine deals with a broken relationship and trying to mend it, Pines deals with the legacy we leave for our children through the good, and bad decisions that we make. It may not seem like that from the surface and the trailers, but it’s there.
The film starts by following Luke(Ryan Gosling), a motorcycle stunt driver working in a travelling carnival, as he reunites with Romina(Eva Mendes), a fling from the last time he was in town. As he tries to re-connect with Romina he discovers that she is now caring for his newborn child. A spark ignites and he starts a downward spiral into his attempt at being the father he thinks he should be. Unfortunately a lifetime of riding motorcycles hasn't prepared him for what he needs to do and he eventually runs into Robin(Ben Mendelsohn) while looking for a stable job. This meeting starts him on a tragic course that eventually crosses his path with that of Avery(Bradley Cooper), a rookie cop. Luke and Averys time together on screen ends up being brief, but it sets in motion a series of events that sees Avery become a hero, get involved with some dirty cops, and eventually make a decision that could have life or death implications.
The decisions of both of these characters ultimately shape the lives of their sons. In the third segment of this epic drama we are introduced to AJ(Emory Cohen) and Jason(Dane DeHaan), 15 years later, all grown up and in their teen years as their lives cross fatefully. This is where the consequences of their fathers decisions come head on and change their lives for better, and for worst.
I’ll leave my synopsis at that. Watch the film to figure out the rest.
The first thing I feel I need to say about this film is how amazing Ryan Gosling is. He is by far one of my favorite actors out there right now and it’s clearly shown here why. He looks completely at home playing a deadbeat motorcycle driver dressed in grunge. He plays it perfectly and hits the highs and lows amazingly. He gets to enjoy some genuine happiness, but it’s short lived. I was enthralled with his character and wanted him to succeed. I wanted him to be a great dad. And I was equally as destroyed with the fate he weaves for himself.
Now that’s not to say there was anything wrong with the rest of the cast. I feel the need to point out Goslings performance because I feel there are going to be a LOT of people going to this movie just because he’s in it. He’s front and center in all the posters. They knew how to promote this movie. The problem is, the movie isn't just about him. It’s very much an ensemble cast and be forewarned that Ryan Gosling isn't the heart throb here. He’s a broken man. He hits rock bottom at times. And without giving away his exact fate, he’s only in less than a third of the movie.
Speaking of the ensemble cast, everybody else in this is amazing. Special nods going to Ben Mendelsohn, Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta.
Mendelsohn, if you've never seen him, is an amazingly underrated actor. I first saw him in Animal Kingdom (if you haven’t seen that then you should really seek that out, it’s quite awesome). But since then he’s starred in Killing Them Softly with Brad Pitt and a little movie called Dark Knight Rises. The point is, the man is on the rise, and its evident why in this. He plays the perfect role as the down and out junkie and is effectively good at making your skin crawl. His interactions with Gosling are perfect as he pushes him slowly along his destructive path. And at the end, when he sees what he has done to Luke. What he's turned him into. He has an amazing couple of scenes where he attempts to fix his mistake and Mendelsohn plays it so well. I can't state enough how underrated I feel he is.
Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta both give better than expected performances as well. With the little screen time given to them they make damn good use of it. Ray Liotta is one creepy fucker and he knows damn well how to play that up.
All of the performances under Derek Cianfrances direction are what make this movie what it is. On top of that you have some incredibly beautiful cinematography at work here. Most noticeable during the Ryan Gosling sequence of the movie. When he’s speeding away from the heists on his motorcycle, you get the sense of urgency and it makes you feel like you’re right in the action. The rest of the movie he builds an incredibly dark and almost mysterious atmosphere, fitting for the densely forested area where they filmed the movie. The score of the film backs this up perfectly. He effectively makes a movie about a small group of people feel much more engrossing than most would think it needs to be. And he does this all with a very realistic, down to earth style that only comes from a director with a background in documentaries.
The only area that I felt the film stumbled a bit was in the last third when we get to the lives of the kids in their teen years. The acting was still solid but I felt the pacing was a little all over the place. It felt like it was building to a climax a few times and then would just whimper off, before eventually working back up towards something else. I feel like the effect of the tragic ending was also dulled with this up and down pacing near the end. Up until this section of the movie I was completely glued to the screen, oblivious to the world around me. Once it hit these pacing issues I became a little disconnected from the movie. Finally becoming aware of it’s 2hr 20min running time. I’m sure if they had sliced 10-15 minutes off in that final sequence they could have had a much better build up to the end without it feeling as dragged out as it did.
Without the pacing issues at the end I would have easily said this was going to be one of my favorite movies of this year, hands down. But the end was too much of a distraction from the rest of the movie to be completely ignored. I still loved it. Time will only tell how it ranks with the rest of 2013 to come.
The Place Beyond the Pines follows another example of simple lives turned bad. While Blue Valentine deals with a broken relationship and trying to mend it, Pines deals with the legacy we leave for our children through the good, and bad decisions that we make. It may not seem like that from the surface and the trailers, but it’s there.
The film starts by following Luke(Ryan Gosling), a motorcycle stunt driver working in a travelling carnival, as he reunites with Romina(Eva Mendes), a fling from the last time he was in town. As he tries to re-connect with Romina he discovers that she is now caring for his newborn child. A spark ignites and he starts a downward spiral into his attempt at being the father he thinks he should be. Unfortunately a lifetime of riding motorcycles hasn't prepared him for what he needs to do and he eventually runs into Robin(Ben Mendelsohn) while looking for a stable job. This meeting starts him on a tragic course that eventually crosses his path with that of Avery(Bradley Cooper), a rookie cop. Luke and Averys time together on screen ends up being brief, but it sets in motion a series of events that sees Avery become a hero, get involved with some dirty cops, and eventually make a decision that could have life or death implications.
The decisions of both of these characters ultimately shape the lives of their sons. In the third segment of this epic drama we are introduced to AJ(Emory Cohen) and Jason(Dane DeHaan), 15 years later, all grown up and in their teen years as their lives cross fatefully. This is where the consequences of their fathers decisions come head on and change their lives for better, and for worst.
I’ll leave my synopsis at that. Watch the film to figure out the rest.
The first thing I feel I need to say about this film is how amazing Ryan Gosling is. He is by far one of my favorite actors out there right now and it’s clearly shown here why. He looks completely at home playing a deadbeat motorcycle driver dressed in grunge. He plays it perfectly and hits the highs and lows amazingly. He gets to enjoy some genuine happiness, but it’s short lived. I was enthralled with his character and wanted him to succeed. I wanted him to be a great dad. And I was equally as destroyed with the fate he weaves for himself.
Now that’s not to say there was anything wrong with the rest of the cast. I feel the need to point out Goslings performance because I feel there are going to be a LOT of people going to this movie just because he’s in it. He’s front and center in all the posters. They knew how to promote this movie. The problem is, the movie isn't just about him. It’s very much an ensemble cast and be forewarned that Ryan Gosling isn't the heart throb here. He’s a broken man. He hits rock bottom at times. And without giving away his exact fate, he’s only in less than a third of the movie.
Speaking of the ensemble cast, everybody else in this is amazing. Special nods going to Ben Mendelsohn, Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta.
Mendelsohn, if you've never seen him, is an amazingly underrated actor. I first saw him in Animal Kingdom (if you haven’t seen that then you should really seek that out, it’s quite awesome). But since then he’s starred in Killing Them Softly with Brad Pitt and a little movie called Dark Knight Rises. The point is, the man is on the rise, and its evident why in this. He plays the perfect role as the down and out junkie and is effectively good at making your skin crawl. His interactions with Gosling are perfect as he pushes him slowly along his destructive path. And at the end, when he sees what he has done to Luke. What he's turned him into. He has an amazing couple of scenes where he attempts to fix his mistake and Mendelsohn plays it so well. I can't state enough how underrated I feel he is.
Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta both give better than expected performances as well. With the little screen time given to them they make damn good use of it. Ray Liotta is one creepy fucker and he knows damn well how to play that up.
All of the performances under Derek Cianfrances direction are what make this movie what it is. On top of that you have some incredibly beautiful cinematography at work here. Most noticeable during the Ryan Gosling sequence of the movie. When he’s speeding away from the heists on his motorcycle, you get the sense of urgency and it makes you feel like you’re right in the action. The rest of the movie he builds an incredibly dark and almost mysterious atmosphere, fitting for the densely forested area where they filmed the movie. The score of the film backs this up perfectly. He effectively makes a movie about a small group of people feel much more engrossing than most would think it needs to be. And he does this all with a very realistic, down to earth style that only comes from a director with a background in documentaries.
The only area that I felt the film stumbled a bit was in the last third when we get to the lives of the kids in their teen years. The acting was still solid but I felt the pacing was a little all over the place. It felt like it was building to a climax a few times and then would just whimper off, before eventually working back up towards something else. I feel like the effect of the tragic ending was also dulled with this up and down pacing near the end. Up until this section of the movie I was completely glued to the screen, oblivious to the world around me. Once it hit these pacing issues I became a little disconnected from the movie. Finally becoming aware of it’s 2hr 20min running time. I’m sure if they had sliced 10-15 minutes off in that final sequence they could have had a much better build up to the end without it feeling as dragged out as it did.
Without the pacing issues at the end I would have easily said this was going to be one of my favorite movies of this year, hands down. But the end was too much of a distraction from the rest of the movie to be completely ignored. I still loved it. Time will only tell how it ranks with the rest of 2013 to come.
If you don’t mind a bit of a slower paced movie then I strongly recommend this, and to also have a look at Blue Valentine if you can find the time. My strongest advice would be to not watch either in a bad mood in hopes of being cheered up by the “dreamy” Ryan Gosling. You’ll be sadly disappointed.
*I gave The Place Beyond The Pines an 8/10 score on IMDB
No comments:
Post a Comment