FILM REVIEW: The Place Beyond the Pines

Derek Cianfrance's 2010 film, the emotional and non-linear Blue Valentine, told the story of a love affair and earned plaudits for its stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams (nominated for an Oscar for her performance).

The Place Beyond the Pines

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, Ray Liotta, Emory Cohen, Dane DeHaan

Now Cianfrance returns with a more traditional, much more ambitious and epic look at fathers, sons and fate with The Place Beyond the Pines. Weaving three interconnected stories over a period of 15 years, the film is a flawed but daring attempt to examine universal themes against the gritty backdrop of everyday lives in the town of Schenectady, New York.

We begin with Luke (Gosling), a motorcycle stunt rider who works in a travelling carnival that's passing through town. When Romina (Mendes), a former flame, seeks him out to tell him he's the father of her child, he has to decide whether to move on or stick around and be part of his baby's life.

He stays, and in desperation becomes a bank robber to provide for his son. Things seem to be working out until, in a confrontation with rookie cop Avery (Cooper), Luke is shot dead.

The story then moves on to Avery as he struggles to deal with a corrupt police department and the trauma of having killed a man.

The third part of the narrative takes place 15 years later, when Luke's son Jason (DeHaan) meets Avery's son (Cohen), and the two partner in teenage misbehaviour.

While the acting, particularly from Gosling, is generally strong and the film is beautifully shot by Sean Bobbitt and scored by the legendary Mike Patton (of Faith No More and Mr Bungle), Cianfrance fails to completely succeed in bringing all three stories together as convincingly as possible.

There's a level of emotional dissatisfaction that results from killing your most arresting performer early on, only to have him replaced by Cooper. While each story has enough potential to be a separate film, they seem sometimes cut short for the purposes of fitting them into their places in the 140-minute structure of Cianfrance's epic vision.

The exceptional elements are intriguing and engaging enough that the overall experience is rewarding for its steadfast intention to go for broke, and the film certainly reaffirms the impression created by Blue Valentine that Cianfrance is a new American cinematic voice worth keeping an eye on.

WHAT OTHERS SAID

''AS THE sum of some imperfect parts, 'The Place Beyond the Pines' casts its own haunting, sorrowful spell." - The Washington Post

''Cianfrance hasn't figured out what he wants to say, but he spends a lot of time and energy trying to say it." - Boston Globe

''Sure to inspire indifference and cultish admiration in nearly equal measure, this extravagant mess may someday be re-evaluated as a misunderstood masterpiece." - Village Voice