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The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
"Fathers and Sons" My review of the film The Place Beyond the Pines
In an ambitious attempt of an epic familial drama-tragedy, Pines is presented in three acts that span over 15 years. A single event is meant to tie many characters and story lines together, while consistently presenting father-son relationships (and their lack there of). Act one introduces us to Handsome Luke (Gosling) a stunt motorbike rider in a traveling carnival. Quiet, tough, covered in tattoos, he is bored, but complacent. When he is reunited with an old fling, (Mendes) he learns he has an infant son. At this point, Luke makes some big changes in his lifestyle. Act one is the most rich in story, action and character. The ultimate challenge for Luke will be deciding what kind of father he's going to be, and that effort alone, good and bad, makes for a believable struggle. In act one we also have Robin (Mendlesohn) the mechanic, who is another quiet, complex character, driving much of the action and simultaneously trying to slow Luke down. The chase scenes feel raw and gritty, which makes them tense and right at home here. Act one, running just under an hour is a complete character arc in a well-told story and could have stood alone. Act two slows down as it introduces Avery Cross (Cooper) a rookie cop, newly claimed as a hero. His father-son issues are immediately presented as influencing his decision making. He has an infant son whom he struggles to connect with, while simultaneously trying to get free of his own father's controlling hand. The story in act two is not nearly as compelling. Avery is troubled and dealing with dirty cops and guilt from his title of "hero". He is a coward and uses the difficult situations he is dealing with to leverage him upwards in his career. There is little to no action or excitement in act two, it's mostly a cop drama which echoes many dirty cop dramas before it. Ray Liotta is wasted as the obvious ringleader of unsavory behavior. If we are supposed to compare the men from act one and two I would say they both made bad decisions, however, Luke's struggle was how to become the kind father he wanted to be, and Avery's is how to be the kind of man his father wants as a son. Other than the single event that links the two men together, act two is a totally separate film. 15 years pass and the third act begins with Avery's father's funeral. And in the longest half hour of my life we watch Avery's son AJ and Luke's son Jason collide towards each other like bulldozers. There is no mystery in this setup and no fireworks upon impact, save for a black eye. The parallels in their two very different lives are annoying. Both generally fatherless, recreational drug users and outsiders. Jason's journey is to find out more about his biological father. He uses Google to learn AJ's father was involved and Mendlesohn's character Robin returns to be a helpful friend from the past. AJ seems to have no journey or goals at all. My personal issues with act three are unavoidable. 1. Although we see these two characters heading straight for each other, nothing is interesting. Now we're watching an angsty teen drama without bullies or any girls. 2. They've clearly used makeup to age Mendes 15 years forward, and although it's shocking I allow myself to believe a mother working hard in a sort of broken life would look older. Cooper and Mendlesohn are not aged at all. 3. The ending of this confrontation is so anticlimactic, there is no character development in the third act at all, it feels like the movie ends with the last little bit of air going out of a balloon. My issues with the film as a whole: 1. The place beyond the pines is the Mohawk name for Schenectady, NY where this movie takes place, but there is no place beyond the pines. It is not mentioned or even eluded to at all. 2. The female roles in the film are seriously lacking. Understanding the film is trying to deal more with father-son relationships, Mendes' character felt the most real, although she is relatively weak (both emotionally and in moral character). She spends most of her scenes in tears. Rose Byrne is also totally wasted as Avery's wife. She has two scenes and in both she comes off as bossy and powerless simultaneously. Neither gives off the impression they are warm, loving mothers which may add greatly to the unhappiness of our two teenage sons, but it's clearly not the focus of the film, and so, as mothers, they are simply outlines. 3. The three acts are so different it could be like watching 3 episodes of a TV show filmed ten years apart. They vaguely resemble each other.
I give this film 4/10 all points awarded to the first act.