"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...