THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES DVD (2013)

SYNOPSIS: Luke (Ryan Gosling) gives up his job as a motorcycle stunt performer in order to provide for his new family. Avery (Bradley Cooper), an ambitious rookie cop, struggles to make his way in a corrupt police department. Their two worlds collide when Luke takes part in a string of bank robberies and the consequences of their shocking confrontation will reverberate into the next generation.

MOVIE REVIEW:

He Drive. He is also part of Gangster Squad. Sometimes, Only God Forgives when he is Crazy, Stupid, Love.  

His name is Ryan Gosling.

In this beautifully crafted drama, Gosling plays Luke Glanton, a popular motorcycle performer with the circus. Liked his Driver character, Luke is a drifter. Somber and definitely not one that had an easy childhood from his appearance. When an ex-lover, Romina (Eva Mendes) turns up with his son, it totally changed Luke’s course of life. Desperate to provide for his baby son, Jason and wins back Romina, Luke teamed up with a mechanic, Robin (Ben Mendelsohn) to rob banks. But when a cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) turned up and shot Luke during an escape, little did we know that it’s only the start of a multi-story arc in The Place Beyond The Pines.

With the appearance of Cooper at the 45 minutes mark, it begins a story that spanned over 17 years and two generations. Before we even get to that, there’s an engrossing subplot involving police corruption and how it managed to turn Cross’ career from a lowly cop into an assistant district attorney. When you have Ray Liotta appearing as Cross’ colleague, you know he is up to no good. Director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) is incredible with his storytelling skills with the first act flowing seamlessly into the second. There’s never a second of boredom despite the running time of 140 minutes. It’s not even bloated to say the least, it’s a miracle Cianfrance managed to accomplish so much into that time frame.

By the time the sons of Luke and Cross met for the first time 15 years later (without knowing the identity of each other) in school. You came to realize The Place Beyond The Pines has touches on themes such as fatherhood and retribution, not Shakespearean tragedy mind you but bold enough to sweep your feet off. It’s a crime drama yet also an established family drama in every way; the narrative both ambitious and unpredictable.

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are astonishing in their performances especially the latter who sort of traded in her usual sexy image for some beautiful acting by the third act. Gosling is the James Dean of this generation and his juggling between indie and commercial projects are remarkable. Bradley Cooper coming off a strong year with Silver Linings Playbook shows he can be more than just a smirking asshole. Throws in the up-and-coming Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) as the grown-up son of Luke who is struggling to find his true identity and the movie more than pays off.  

Without a doubt,The Place Beyond The Pines qualifies as one of this year’s best drama. Drama never gets so exciting and complex like this. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

It’s not very outstanding when it comes to the audio and visual aspect of this DVD. Just plain serviceable and very ordinary.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee