+2
Thanks for the review, SC.
I saw the movie too and was going to write a review, but I felt too lazy. One reason being is that I feel there's a lot to say about this movie and wasn't up to it.
The Place Beyond the Pines is apparently a translation of Schenectady, where the movie is set. To me, it's also an allusion to the hidden parts of ourselves and others, the ones we may not even be aware of, but which play a huge part in who we are and how our lives take shape.
I liked the movie a lot. I liked Cianfrance's writing/directing style - telling a complex story over a long time span with short, tense scenes that help keep us on edge for the duration of the long movie. And the story serves as a device for highlighting the central theme of how dynamics get played out over generations. Are we truly free to live our own lives, or are we also beholden to the choices made by our parents, their parents, etc?
The story is set in the frame of a classic American tale. It begins with a drifter who decides to stake his claim. 'He can get his own girl and his own kid. Every man has that right,' says Luke. We can imagine this same line being said in a Western. Perhaps every man has the right, but is every man free (free of his demons, that is) to manifest it? And the movie ends on a parallel note.
I found all the acting good and dramatically believable, which is quite a feat for Cianfrance to pull off from such a large ensemble; very strong from Gosling and Bradley Cooper. Ray Liotta was also really good, as was Dane DeHaan (whom I've never seen before).
There is a contrivance in the third act that temporarily threatens to pull the viewer out of the story, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility, so I was able to go with the flow.
The only real problem I had with the film was the score, which at times I found overwhelming. Particularly in the beginning, before any drama has been revealed. Suddenly this ominous music appears, like a deep-voiced narrator at the beginning of a B-horror movie, heavy-handedly informing us that we're in for a wild ride. While the score was often appropriate, overall it could have been employed with a lot more subtlety. I really liked the Bon Iver song at the end.
Again, thanks SC, for prompting me to get some of my thoughts about this very worthwhile film out.
I'd give it an 8.7/10