Quartile rating: 8/10 · 2 ratings
A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.
The Place Beyond the Pines is a structurally ambitious triptych that boldly subverts audience expectations by killing its apparent protagonist midway through. The generational legacy theme is woven with genuine literary ambition. Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are magnetic in the first act, and Bradley Cooper delivers a career-best nuanced performance in the second. Derek Cianfrance's cinematography, especially the long tracking motorcycle shots, is viscerally immersive and distinctive. The film's tripartite structure and thematic scope make it genuinely singular among American crime dramas of its era. The third act, while thematically coherent, loses some momentum and emotional urgency compared to the gripping first two segments, keeping the Ending from matching the heights of what precedes it.