The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) Review
Since Father’s Day is next weekend I thought it’d be the perfect time to look back at one of the best Father/Son films ever made, The Place Beyond the Pines.
Released in 2013, Directed by Derek Cianfrance who also penned the script with the help of Ben Coccio and Darius Marder.
Derek was inspired to write this film after he became a father. It’s interesting how our worldview changes as we go through large life changes. We might never have gotten this special film if Derek had not become a father.
It tells three linear storylines. Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a Carny/Motorcyclist who turns to a life of crime to support his son Jason and the woman he had him with.
Avery (Bradley Cooper) A cop who is looking to rise inside the police force. And 15 years in the future, Luke and Avery’s sons deal with what their fathers did 15 years prior.
Typically a film like this, which is in a class of its own really, would be told through flashbacks. It’s a crime epic, family drama, and neo-noir film. In most cases, this film would be told from the point of view of Jason and AJ, Luke and Avery’s sons.
And throughout their storylines, we’d get backstory via flashbacks of their fathers and how their actions have directly impacted their sons’ lives.
If it had this structure the callbacks would be heavy-handed. Showing Jason riding his bike on a winding road just as Luke did. But if they showed them back to back or even minutes from each other we’d roll our eyes at where Cianfrance is trying to get at.
Instead, these moments are nearly an hour apart, even if Jason doesn’t remember his father scenes like these show that Jason and Luke will forever be connected.
Avery and his son AJ’s relationship is far different. It’s evident that what transpired between Luke and Avery at the end of Act I had a direct impact on Avery and AJ’s relationship. They don’t really have one, at least not a meaningful connection.
Another example of how perfectly this film is structured; to show that these lives are intertwined for eternity. In Act, I of the film, Luke calls him and Robin (Ben Mendelsohn) Hall and Oates, the Hall and Oates of bank robbing.
In Act II while Avery is driving with his cop buddies, after harassing Luke’s baby momma Ro (Eva Mendez) her boyfriend and her son Jason, Hall and Oates are playing on the radio.
There is no call out to it, but it is a reminder that these lives are intertwined. It’s like the quote from Gladiator: “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”
There is not a better film about Fathers and sons and how a father’s actions, and place in life, will directly affect his children, their situations, and the options they will have in the future.
In that matter it’s not just a film about father/son relationships, but about poverty and how what you’re born into can alter your entire life.
This is a film I love deeply, I’ve tried not to spoil anything major in case you have not seen and know nothing about this 10-year-old film.
It’s a film that gets better after every subsequent viewing. Upon first viewing, it takes a while to get your footing because of the structure it feels like three different films.
It’s this structure as well as the script, the performances, the cinematography, and the beautifully haunting score by Mike Patton that make this film unique.
It’s the perfect film to watch with your Dad this Father’s Day.
4.5/5 Stars
