The Place Beyond the Pines is a linear anthology film telling three distinct chapters in a much looser story about fathers, sons, and personal responsibility. In the first story, professional motorcycle stuntman Luke discovers he has an infant son with one time fling Romina. He will do anything to be involved in his son's life, even rob a bank to provide for him. In the second story, rookie police officer Avery discovers a deep strain of corruption in his department and sets out to clean up the crime unit. This brings him in direct contact with Romina's family, intertwining the fates of their two infant sons. In the third story, it's fifteen years later and Luke's son Jason meets Avery's son AJ for the first time. They've both been lied to about their parents' circumstances and unravel their shared fate together.
Writer/director Derek Cianfrance and screenwriters Ben Coccio and Darius Marder take a huge risk in The Place Beyond the Pines. It really is three separate films loosely linked by the chronology of core characters' lives. The style of Luke's story is different from the styles of Avery and the sons' stories. Everything from the cinematography to the scoring changes to reflect a new direction in the film.
The big question is whether or not the anthology works to create a cohesive whole. It does in a very loose way that can hardly be called successful. The film clocks in at 140 minutes and each story is weighted evenly. 47 minutes is hardly enough time to tell Luke's story and more than enough time to tell the story of the sons, yet each segment is the same length.
Cianfrance is playing with the influence of fathers on sons and personal responsibility. From that concept, the equitable running time makes sense. You learn about Luke, you learn about Avery, and then you learn how their stories define their sons' lives. The logic is sound.
From an artistic standpoint, the film loses steam in each successive segment. Luke's story is a high action heist thriller with big bold character strokes and modern noir lighting. It's jam-packed with a whole lot of engaging content and wild cinematography. Then the film jumps to a much quieter, dare I say tired, corruption drama with very predictable twists and turns. A huge novelty turns into something all too familiar but very well-executed. Then the sons take over and their story is less their own than a way to bridge the gap between the two wildly different styles.
The final few minutes almost make you forget all the cliched high school drama the characters are put through to artificially raise the stakes at the end of the film. For the first time since Luke's story, the characters behave in realistic ways. Genuine suspense builds as you don't know how far the next generation will take the unresolved conflict 15 years in the making. It's shockingly good considering the hour of pablum and well-worn tropes shoved in after Luke's story.
The Place Beyond the Pines is technically well-executed. The acting is strong, with Eva Mendes as Romana, Ryan Gosling as Luke, and Dane DeHaan as teenage Jason doing the heavy lifting. The film looks good. It just doesn't come together like it should. It's a bit too loose and flexible in its style and focus to really sell the message Derek Cianfrance is pushing.
Rating: 6/10
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