Reminiscent of 2011’s underrated Margaret with its wide-angle thematic structure sprawled over nearly two-and-a-half hours, The Place Behind The Pines falls just short of its ambitious reach. A sketchy looseness undermines the big themes of fatherhood, guilt, despair, and fate to the point of blunting the film’s very powerful segments. Paradoxically, although feeling like three seperate films in one, Derek Cianfrance’s followup to the excellent Blue Valentine contains far more hits than misses.
A hysterically excellent Ryan Gosling continues his alienated bad-guy schtick that wowed viewers in Drive. Here he plays a notorious motorcycle stuntman in a carnival. He goes around and around a spinning cage zipping through other stunt riders at a breakneck pace. Then, all of a sudden, like a mirage, a lovely Eva Mendes shows up. Seems they shared a past and she has a little secret she’s keeping from him. Before we know it Gosling succumbs to a good, fatherly instinct despite Mendes’ having moved on to a new boyfriend. When Gosling basically stalks his way into his son’s and her life, it’s hard not to root for him. Then, while riding one day, he meets up with an entertainingly loony and effective Ben Mendelsohn, who takes him in and gives him a part-time job. Not long after he suggests they rob banks. With Gosling’s nerve and uncanny bike skills, the riveting robberies are adreneline-inducing feats; his getaways, positively exhilarating. When he eventually crosses swords with Bradley Cooper, the movie soars. Cianfrance’s footprint speaks of sharp craftsmanship, including some incredible shots.
The Place Beyond The Pines (the phrase is the Mohawk translation for Schenectady, site of the film) takes chances . Its plot developments are certainly unorthodox. Just like that a Serpico-like movie within-a-movie breaks out. Bradley Cooper, as a cop with a law degree, faces moral dilemma wrapped around moral dilemmas. A damn good Ray Liotta has screen presence galore as a not-so-straight cop. Bruce Greenwood makes his District Attorney character sing with plausibility. Unfortunately, Mendes (who’s very good here) is basically dropped as a character except as a foil for both Gosling’s and Cooper’s guilt and responsibility issues. Then, in an equally tone-shifting third act, we’re introduced to Cooper’s son some 16 years later. He’s about as believable as Cooper’s son as Dennis The Menace would be. Yet as Cianfrance continues to hold our attention, we do so almost reluctantly, stepping around the dashes of stickiness. The crazed, to-the-hilt action movie from nearly a couple of hours ago has now pivoted into a total hybrid. Is this even the same movie?
Picking up the pieces of this shattered yet highly compelling film is more engaging than confounding. It certainly avoids becoming a weepy nostalgia flick. Yet unanswered questions and character-development shortcuts steal away the Big Moment, sending it off into “Huh?”-land no matter how highfaluting its intentions.
3.5 Above Average Film With Some Great Parts (out of 5)