The Place Beyond the Pines

A powerful drama assembled from three interconnected lives. A raw, realistic story and precise directing highlighted by great acting. The movie loses its oomph a little when Ryan Gosling disappears from in front of the camera, but it still has a lot to say. The fourth star is for the great cross-country chases in the first third. (02/01/2014)

An Iñárritu-esque movie in the form of a Kinder Surprise; it also offers three (un)similar things in one package. Tremendously powerful in many aspects; from the details like "wearing shabby t-shirts inside out" to building a dense atmosphere. What spoils the enthusiasm somewhat is the third act, which is not bad in itself, but still crouches deep in the shadow of the opening two acts. It is schematic, predictable, and somewhat didactic. Which, since it is meant to close the circle, is a little unfortunate. Quite a little bit. (17/03/2013)

With such a duo in the lead roles, it couldn't have turned out any other way. Bradley Cooper steals every scene with his brilliant performance without hesitation, and Ryan Gosling only needs one look for the motorcycles in the film to be different than before. These pine trees at first seem like a proper probe into souls on opposite sides of the barricade, like an excellent dramatic arc that I will be talking about for some time. But behind that stone in the stomach that dragged me down for over two hours, there is simply something more. And when the viewer lets a few pivotal moments pass before their eyes and connects them back into a single whole, it will shake you up at least one more time. (19/03/2013)

No, at the beginning it seemed like it would be a repeat of "Blue Valentine", more or less with the same cast, but in the end there was a significant twist. And then it continued in the style of the film "Blue Valentine". Director and screenwriter Derek Cianfrance has a gift for stories that breathe such a depression on you from the beginning that you won't be able to shake it off until the end. The world of his films has colors, only to quickly lose them and remain in dark shades. There is no hope here. Lives fall apart and you can't really do anything about it. (20/11/2013)

After a while, I thought Clint had pulled off this story split many times better in Changeling. If the whole movie had fleshed out the first part and been based on "Bradley chasing Ryan", it might have felt a lot more coherent in the end result. I'm not saying that the other two really separate stories don't make sense, but I had a definite problem with their delivery. If you’re supposed to take away from this that "all your shit will catch up with you one day anyway, and you can't escape it no matter how hard you try to be nice and human" then maybe let them, but for me it doesn't represent any kind of wisdom or "evocative movie experience". Blue Valentine was more intimate, more evocative, and a lot less intrusive. (19/08/2013)