The Place Beyond The Pines (2012): The Choices We Make

“If you ride like lightning, you're gonna crash like thunder”

I can say that most of us have families. Whether it’s a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, an aunt, an uncle, and so on and so forth, family is a part of yourself and despite everything you cannot escape from those bonds no matter how hard you try. That blood is part of ourselves and we cannot deny it.

The Place Beyond The Pines (2012) is a crime/drama film about parents. Specifically about father-son relationships and how they can define the rest of our lives. This film is directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan. TPBTP is divided into three parts (I’ll try to avoid spoilers):

1. The first part tells the story of Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), a rebellious young man who finds out he has a child and decides to support his son by robbing banks, despite Romina Gutierrez (Eva Mendes), the mother of Luke’s child, wanting him to stay out of their lives.

2. The second part follows the life of police officer Avery Cross after a life-changing event, and how he deals with his corrupt co-workers.

3. The third part is about Luke and Avery’s children, Jason Glanton and A. J. Cross, in high school and Jason trying to find out who his father was.

 

 

This film is a gritty drama, but also a really powerful tale about fathers and sons and how revenge and hatred can turn our fates in 360 degrees. We make many choices, and those same choices can define one single moment or the rest of our lives. We can be haunted by those decisions or let go. Are we condemned to repeat our fathers’ mistakes? Are we doomed to be the same incomplete and broken beings? Or can we be better than they ever were?

On the one hand, we have Luke, who is a caring, but a very violent man. He cares about his family, but he is a criminal, and on the other hand, we have Avery, who is a very good cop and a kind man, but does something bad that changes his whole life. We have two entirely different characters, opposing forces that clash in the film and that clash is felt throughout generations. Good lives are turned into guilt-driven and vengeance-driven lives by a random event. We have many destinations, and have many good qualities, but make one mistake and everything goes to hell.

The Place Beyond The Pines is an amazing film with spectacular performances, a great OST composed by Mike Patton, beautiful cinematography and themes about fatherhood, guilt, and revenge that will make you think about how your own father, or lack thereof, defines your very existence.