The Place Beyond the Pines Movie Reviews

It's the opening, retro-cool extended tracking shot where Luke ( Ryan Gosling) gets ready for his daredevil biking act that first gets you. The camera follows him from his trailer to the Big Top, where two other riders await him. They go about their act, eliciting gasps of awe, before the frame ends. It's like a metaphor for the entire movie. Separate lives, yet intertwined in an intricately-constructed ride.

A searing honesty permeated every frame of director Derek Cianfrance's 'Blue Valentine', about the decaying marriage of a young couple, played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. His latest film, 'The Place Beyond The Pines', is a more sprawling tale that follows two fathers and two sons over many years. Although it explores some ambitious themes, the film is way too long, a tad confused, and never as genuinely affecting as the earlier one