The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance reteams with his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling for this drama of father and son relationships told via the medium of bank robberies, police corruption and suspiciously convenient plotting. Gosling stars as a motorcycle stuntman who begins a side line in pilfering in order to help raise money to help his ex-lover raise their young son. Soon Gosling crosses paths with young cop Bradley Cooper and the film shoots (literally) off into an unexpected tangent. This has an old style feel to it and Cianfrance has learnt the lessons from Valentine with a much needed injection of pace on the editing front and some great one take shot scenes. Most credit should go to Sean Bobbitt though for his sumptuous cinematography which is nicely complimented by Mike Patton’s simple though haunting score. Though basically a film of two halves character concentration wise, the storyline is more of a triptych which needs belief to be suspended on a routine basis and the overall package is a bit too melodramatic. Overall a good film for the non-blockbuster crowd to enjoy. Ray Liotta does some snarling. Rating: 7/10.