Au-delà des pins

This is one of Gosling's older films that is just raw and beautiful. Two stories colliding into one. The pacing can be slow but it'll still keep you engaged all the way.

If I have to be honest here, I cried my eyes out like a baby during most of the film. For some reason, this drama just hit a very sensitive spot for me. - I am almost certain that it was Ryan Gosling's outstanding performance that hit me deep in my gamut of emotions, resulting in various intense feelings of compassion and sympathy that just seemed to keep appearing throughout the film - he represents such a heartwarming yet melancholic character who you can't help but to sympathize with. In the most beautifully portrayed way, we undergo af journey starting from Luke Glantons' (Ryan Gosling) unfortunate situation to smoothly transitioning into Avery Cross' (Bradley Cooper) life whilst issues such as fraud within police departments, abandonment, poverty and social heritage are illuminated in the thrill of it all - and the crazy mixture of different perspectives and issues all makes sense. More I can't say, or else I will reveal the whole plot. The only thing left to say is, if you don't know what you're going to expect from this movie, you're going in for a storytelling told untraditionally, composed perfectly ending with a somewhat circular structure. - Trust me, this only makes sense in the end. To finish off with a sentence: This movie represents a classic example of your unethical actions coming back to taunt you.

I really recommend not to go through any spoilers about this movie and try to enjoy the emotional and reasonable depths of its story. There are more than three dimensions filmed inside The Place Beyond the Pines, where many ideas are dealt with, each is rich enough to make a movie by its own.

The 2 hrs 10 minutes of the movie is in fact the time where at least four different yet connected perspectives are shown, with every one being taken care of as the main one and all main actors in those parts are superstars.

It is so good because it has excellent story, actors and directing.

The Place Beyond the Pines starts out with motorcycle stunt rider Luke (Ryan Gosling) who starts robbing banks in order to provide for his baby. A son he belatedly discovers he has because he broke up with his girlfriend Romina, (Eva Mendes) who is now living with another man.

Luke's plans to be a good father does not end well as his luck runs out. Avery (Bradley Cooper) is a novice cop who goes after Luke and later gets in some bother with corrupt cops in his department. The ambitious Avery uses this to get into the District Attorney's office.

The third act of the movie is set 15 years later as the children of these two men cross paths. Both children are delinquents in some ways.

The film goes for an epic scope with interweaving stories. There is a great opening with Gosling as he goes out to ride the wall of death.

The film loses its focus when it concentrates on their kids because the story is not that great. However director Derek Cianfrance has made an intriguing film. It is a shame that he runs out of his narrative drive by the end.

What he have here is a story about fathers and their sons. In fact, three separate stories - each one leads into the next. A lesser movie would have just told one story, but "The Place Beyond the Pines" is larger in scope and needs all three parts to tell the complete story. A life is not just about your life but those you affect and those you leave behind for years to come.

The first father is Luke (Ryan Gosling) who didn't know he had a son until a girl whose name he happens to remember shows up with a one year- old son. Prior to that moment he was a daredevil with no ambitions, no money, and no care for his life. Now he's a father. A father with no money nor job. Wearing a dirty, inside-out, torn t-shirt and tattoos covering his arms, neck and face, he is the epitome of trash. But you know, the quiet, reserved, soulful, good-looking trash. And now that he's a father, he's going to care for his son however he can. He hooks up with his partner in crime, literally - Robin (Ben Mendelsohn). Together they are like a Hall & Oates version of Bonnie and Clyde.

In Schenectady, New York - the place beyond the pines - the only thing dirtier than the trashy criminals are the cops themselves. And then the second father is introduced. The character of Avery (Bradley Cooper) is carefully crafted into what should be the greatest human being on planet Earth. And he's a cop. And he's a father. And he's a son to a father who might have been but probably wasn't the greatest human being on planet Earth.

The film went for editing and filming styles to echo the characters' situations and actions. You can guess what that would look like when Gosling is racing through the forest on his motorcycle. But as we approach the more expansive ending, there are some beautiful shots of the trees lining Schenectady's countryside roads. That works particularly well with Cooper giving a remarkable performance of Avery constantly coming to grips with his life.

The final act tells a story very different from, but completely connected to, the two that came before it. It could have been tightened up a bit, but "The Place Beyond the Pines" isn't telling a quick story. It's telling the story of multiple lives, of death, family, love, honour and obedience. Employing overall themes of revenge, ambition, and what it means to be a father, and a son. I say it succeeds in its larger scope, even if it doesn't just tell a story the way one would want it to.