Gosling Goes 'Beyond the Pines'

"If you ride like lightning, you're gonna crash like thunder."

Director Derek Cianfrance and Ryan Gosling team up again after 2010's Blue Valentine for the crime drama focusing on fathers and sons, The Place Beyond the Pines. Gosling plays Luke Glanton, a motorcycle stunt man for a traveling circus. While Luke is passing through Schenectady, New York, with his carnival, he runs into an old flame Romina (Eva Mendes). Driven by the new found knowledge that he had become a father during his absence from Romina's life, Luke's ambitions have moved from entertaining audiences to providing for his son Jason. After being spotted riding like lightning through the pines, Luke lands a job working in a repair shop. Frustrated with his lack of finances, he is persuaded by his manager to apply his talents as a stunt man and getaway robbing a bank. I drew from Gosling's Luke undeniable similarities to his character in Drive (2011), to the point where it felt like an extension of Drive. Both are stunt men working in a repair shop on the side, with a woman and child to protect. Gosling has the ability to play his "flawed" characters with a cool calmness and believability, and has been doing so long before his romcom fame. Alongside the drama and action, there are just enough comic relief moments which blend in harmony with the gripping story. Derek Cianfrance takes his time with dramatic scenes, completely involving you in the action. Apart from the motorcycle riding and chase scenes being shot in a realness with a jagged edge, Cianfrance also used real bankers and customers in the robbery scenes to produce honest reactions. Intense! Bradley Cooper plays Avery Cross, a lawyer turned rookie cop who is hot on Luke's trail, making him an overnight hero. Cross is uneasy with his new hero title and the corruption that surrounds him in the police force, striving to move on to juster things. Luke and Avery's sons will meet years later, connecting them to the troubled past of both their fathers. The Place Beyond the Pines is told as a 3-act story. My only problem with this is that I felt each story could have been their own seperate films. Each act was strong enough to play out on its own, and being told as a miniseries would have equipped Cianfrance with more running time to fully examine and play out the situation of each main character. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Beyond the pines there is tragedy, but also discovery of one's self and potential.

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