The Place Beyond The Pines

I’ve been noticing lately that my day to day interactions with people are becoming more and more cynical.  I don’t know if that’s a direct result of writing this blog or if my blog just reflects how I have always been. But it does bring up the age old question, does art imitate life or is life imitating art? And yes, I just referred to this awful blog as art, but if Justin Bieber (who just recently went on record as saying he hopes Anne Frank would have been a belieber) is considered an artist then I certainly can make such a claim…sort of. Really??? Anne Frank???“Cocaine is a helluva drug!”

The sad thing is that my behavior is also being affected by all of the movies I see.  A while back I had an unbelievably attractive friend come check out a show with me. And as is her usual style, she showed up fashionably late. I was annoyed but the second I saw her and her awesome rack I got over it, especially when she told me that her grandmother just died. I felt awful and honestly wanted to do anything possible to make this as fun of a night for her and to get her mind off of her loss. But the entire time, I kept thinking about how hot she was and how awesome it would be to hook up with her. And suddenly the Will Farrell character from Wedding Crashers popped in my head.  I couldn’t become like him, the slimy funeral crasher! But the more I drank, the less creepy I felt and more I wanted to shout “Mom! The f’n meatloaf!!!”  Thankfully I didn’t turn into a complete sociopath but I’d be lying if I said I didn't cop a quick feel. I’m an awful awful person.

The point of all of this is that The Place Beyond The Pines serves as a cautionary tale for the choices you make in life. Have a one night stand? You could end up with a kid and start robbing banks. Get too focused on your career and your kid could end up making your life a living hell. Don’t all kids do this to their parents anyway?

Derek Cianfrance, the writer of the grossly overrated Blue Valentine, writes and directs this story of how one man’s life changing decisions affects a number of families’ lives forever. The first act of the film introduces you to Luke (Ryan Gosling) who is a circus performer due to his unbelievable skills on a motorcycle. One day he learns that Romina (Eva Mendes), who was a fling from the past, has hidden the fact that he is the father of her infant son. He then decides to leave the circus so that he can hang around to take care of his child.  He tries living honestly at first but soon realizes that he can use his unique skill set to rob banks and make a lot of quick money in the process. Well this eventually leads him on a collision course to the up and coming ambitious cop Avery played by Bradley Cooper. Once these two meet, their worlds are forever changed.

The first act is by far the best and most entertaining. It has the perfect mix of action and drama as the wonderful Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom) shows Gosling the ropes when it comes to robbing banks. These two are the best actors in the film and every scene with Gosling has you on edge as you can tell that he’s a ticking time bomb; especially when he has to interact with Romina’s new boyfriend Kofi. Once the second act hits you are given insight into Bradley Cooper’s life and how he is dealing with the aftermath of their meeting. The movie is still good but it grinds to halt as it enters complete drama mode. It takes you a while to get over how boring the movie has become but once Cooper has to interact with Romina, the movie picks up steam again and you start to see where Cianfrance is going with the story. The third act, flashes 15 years later into the future and focuses on how what has happened has affected both Gosling’s and Cooper’s kids. This act is somewhat predictable but there are enough twists to keep you interested and quite honestly this is probably the most depressing act of the film.

Once again, I am not sure that this movie deserves all of the hype it is getting but the more it sits with me, the more I like it. Cooper is actually pretty good in it as he continues to put together a rather respectable acting career and believe it or not, so is Eva Mendes. I rate this movie as FRESH and  I suggest that you check it out. But one thing is for sure, contraception sales will skyrocket for the next month or so.