Place Beyond the Pines, The : Movie Review


I think any useful discussion of “The Place Beyond the Pines” requires some heavy lifting in the spoiler department. Please do not read any further if you care to keep the film’s secrets safe and sound.

In his last movie, 2010’s “Blue Valentine,” writer/director Derek Cianfrance studied an intimate world of relationship deterioration, focusing on the hearts and minds of two characters retracing their mistakes. With “The Place Beyond the Pines,” the helmer opens his scope up to move across generations, yet the core of the picture remains quietly meditative, continuing his quest to explore human fallibility and the yearn to right wrongs. It’s an impressively imagined effort with a sweeping arc of drama to help carry it through three stories of emotional disruption, and its ambition is almost worth a recommendation alone. It eventually falls apart, perhaps by design, but Cianfrance shows interesting new sides to his filmmaking ability with his latest feature, while continuing to indulge a thespian permissiveness that’s embarrassing to watch at times.

See www.blu-ray.com for full review

Author : Brian Orndorf