You might call Derek Cianfrance's tremendous new movie "A Place Beyond the Pines" a blue-collar epic or a tragedy in three acts; it's certainly a drama in three acts. It runs for two hours and twenty minutes and it covers a period of about 17 years and there are really only about four major characters. To talk at all about the films storyline would be to spoil what is really an extraordinary narrative where even the coincidences of the third act seem to me to have resonance of great drama and it is magnificently played by its four principal actors.
Ryan Gosling, continuing to cement his reputation as the finest young actor of his generation, is Luke, an outlaw anti-hero worthy to stand beside any played by Dean or Newman. Bradley Cooper, so much more now that the light comedian of The Hangover movies, is Avery, the idealistic young rookie cop who finds the consequences of a single act of violence leads him down paths he previously may only have dreamed of and relative newcomers Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen are sons in desperate need of a father's love and guidance.
This is bold and innovative film-making from Cianfrance with a strong emphasis on plot development. It plays out like a great page-turner of a novel but is in fact an original screenplay. After "Blue Valentine" this marks Cianfrance out as a major big league player.
Ryan Gosling, continuing to cement his reputation as the finest young actor of his generation, is Luke, an outlaw anti-hero worthy to stand beside any played by Dean or Newman. Bradley Cooper, so much more now that the light comedian of The Hangover movies, is Avery, the idealistic young rookie cop who finds the consequences of a single act of violence leads him down paths he previously may only have dreamed of and relative newcomers Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen are sons in desperate need of a father's love and guidance.
This is bold and innovative film-making from Cianfrance with a strong emphasis on plot development. It plays out like a great page-turner of a novel but is in fact an original screenplay. After "Blue Valentine" this marks Cianfrance out as a major big league player.