The Place Beyond The Pines (2013)

Rating: 4.5/5

The Place Beyond The Pines is a bold, powerful and surprising picture of electrifying presence and huge energy. The many posters sporting the refreshingly rugged Ryan Gosling led me to wonder how they could produce 140 minutes of 'tough guy on a motorcycle' that was watchable, but the fast pace of the plot soon built to a classic theatrical tragedy structure of three acts, each with its own main characters, meaning that there really is no leading man here, as each contributes to the legacy as it unfolds over the course of some seventeen years.

We begin with a mysterious tracking shot following Luke Glanton (Gosling), as he stalks through a bustling carnival to his trio motorcycling trick inside a large metal sphere. After the show, he locks looks with a lovely young woman who he has clearly met before. The girl, Romina (Eva Mendes), is soon revealed to be the mother of one year old Jason - Luke's son.

He quits the act and makes an instant effort to be a decent father, but turns to robbing banks to support his son, with the help of friendly body shop owner Robin Van Der Zee. The love for his baby is unquestionable, but Luke is certainly a bad boy with a past, and Gosling's performance keeps us on the edge of our seats, not knowing whether or not to trust him. His presence is unnerving, and we constantly question what he's about to do.

The law eventually catches up with our tragic hero in the form of rookie cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), whose intervention leads to Luke's death, and a lifetime of guilt over the young son left without a father. Avery is hailed as a hero by the force, but his chapter of the story depicts crippling remorse, police corruption and bittersweet victory. Cooper brings us a tormented, restless character who we can't help but feel for as his attempts to do the right thing are shot down one after another.

And then, of course, what became of Glanton's son, whose modest existence with his waitress mother and committed stepfather Kofi was left in the balance by the aforementioned police corruption? Fifteen years later, the sons of Glanton and Cross come together in a decisive turn of events, that undoubtedly shape their futures immeasurably.

The Place Beyond The Pines has something magical in its working: the entire movie felt completely absorbing, yet somehow surreal. The feeling of something fantastical going on in a completely realistic, human story is a marvel to experience, and quite hard to describe. Every year you get perhaps two or three major releases - and by major I don't just mean budget and names, but overall quality - and The Place Beyond The Pines is most definitely one of them, and will certainly be remembered months from now when it comes to the 86th Academy Award Nominations.