Movie Breakdown: The Place Beyond The Pines

People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different.  In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing lead us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all.  Read on!

The Impression:

Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) directs Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper in a film that looks like it will probably be the saddest thing ever.

The Reality:

The Place Beyond The Pines is all show.  It looks nice, the acting is top notch, and the story itself is interesting enough, but the film comes off as hollow.  I blame this on the subject matter being a bit too ambitious for director Derek Cianfrance.  His mission to explore the decisions that fathers make and how they affect their sons is an admirable one, but he doesn’t do anything expect point and repeatedly say: “see, that thing he did is totally why this other thing happened.”  That’s certainly one way to present something, but in this instance, it makes The Place Beyond The Pines feel heartless.  See it only if you want a cold slice of drama.

The Lesson:

A well made movie is not always a great movie.