Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Fathers, sons, crime and regret

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Directed by Derek Cianfrance this film stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta. A stunt rider for a travelling circus finds out he has a son then eventually we segue into the story of the policeman son of a judge.

Using an unusual narrative structure this film has cross generational and family scope as it reaches for an epic story of fatherhood but falls slightly short in my opinion. There is plenty to admire here but at times it ends up feeling like three different stories put together rather than one long story. I really enjoyed the first third of the film which is moody and features Ryan Gosling but the later parts drifted and relied a bit too much on coincidence for my taste.


4/5

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